By: RiverDogs Media
Lynchburg, VA- The Charleston RiverDogs claimed their second consecutive league championship courtesy of a 6-2 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats at Bank of the James Stadium on Tuesday night. Carson Williams and Brock Jones homered and JJ Goss tossed a career-high 6.2 innings in the victory. The RiverDogs finished the postseason with a 4-0 record.
The game was scoreless through the first three innings as the two starting pitchers, Goss for the RiverDogs and Trenton Denholm of Lynchburg, dominated early in the game. Williams opened the fourth inning by blasting a solo home run over the batter’s eye in dead center to make it 1-0.
The lead grew larger in the top of the sixth. Shane Sasaki opened the inning with a single and Williams followed with an infield hit to place runners on the corners. Junior Caminero doubled the advantage with an opposite field single to right and Bobby Seymour followed with an RBI double into the left field corner. After a pitching change, Jones blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall to increase the margin to 5-0. Denholm took the tough luck loss, surrendering four runs in 5.1 innings.
Goss held Lynchburg hitless through 5.0 innings, before stranding two baserunners who reached on singles in the sixth. Isaiah Greene put the Hillcats on the board with a solo home run to start the seventh against Goss and with two outs in the same frame, Jordan Brown added an RBI triple to make it 5-2. Antonio Jimenez came out of the bullpen and retired Angel Genao to end the inning. Goss allowed two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts to earn his second postseason win.
The lead grew to 6-2 in the top of the eighth when Ryan Spikes added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Jimenez posted scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to close out the victory and collect his first save. The game ended on a groundball to second base by Genao. A massive celebration began behind the mound on the infield grass as players streamed out of the dugout to join the party.
Seymour finished the game 4-4 with three doubles and an RBI. Williams also tallied multiple hits, going 2-4 with a home run. Lynchburg received a pair of hits from Brown out of the eighth spot in the lineup.
For the first 41 years of the franchise’s history, the team went without winning a championship. Since becoming a Tampa Rays affiliate prior to the 2021 season, the team has posted the best record in Minor League Baseball and earned back-to-back titles.
