Avalanche catcher Koby Clemens is greeted by teammates after he hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Lynchburg Hillcats manager Jeff Branson is ejected from the game after disputing a fourth-inning home run by Avs catcher Koby Clemens.

Photos by JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Avalanche pitcher Polin Trinidad pitches against the Lynchburg Hillcats Sunday afternoon at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium. Trinidad pitched seven scoreless innings in the Avs' win.

Photos by JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Avalanche shortstop Tim Torres gets in front of a grounder against the Hillcats on Sunday at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium. The Avalanche won the game 3-0.

Avalanche catcher Koby Clemens follows through after a solo home run against the Hillcats during the bottom of the fourth inning on Sunday.

There was just one question ricocheting around Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium on Sunday.

"How long will he be here?" Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said.

"He" is Polin Trinidad.

Trinidad threw another gem on Sunday, stunting Salem's losing streak at just two games. He went seven innings without giving up a run as the Avalanche beat Lynchburg 3-0.

"He does everything you ask," said Pankovits, not a noted overpraiser of pitchers. "He's aggressive. He has a great feel for how to pitch a game. He knows when to change speeds, he knows how to locate, he knows when to pitch around somebody."

Trinidad is 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts. On Sunday the left-hander allowed just two hits and two walks through his first six innings, but none of those runners reached second base. He picked off one batter and got another to ground into a double play.

In the seventh, he started off with a strikeout, but Kent Sakamoto singled and then Steve Lerud doubled to put runners at second and third base with only one out. The score at the time was 1-0. The Hillcats needed just a fly ball to tie it.

Trinidad attacked the next two batters, getting both to pop out to silence the threat.

"He doesn't throw 93 or 94, his breaking ball doesn't break a foot, he doesn't have devastating stuff," Pankovits said. "But he knows how to win. Knock on wood, he's as good as I've had here."

Lynchburg starter Tony Watson, another lefty, nearly matched Trinidad through the first five innings. Or maybe he did match Trinidad, depending on your perspective.

From nearly every seat in the house, and from the third base coaching box, Koby Clemens' shot with two outs in the third inning was a foul ball. Way foul.

Clemens, a budding diplomat said, "I don't know, I had my head down. The umpire called it fair."

And really that's all that matters. Plate umpire Matt Abbott signalled the home run, Clemens trotted around the bases and Hillcats' manager Jeff Branson charged onto the field to argue the call. Backed up by his fielders' admittedly partisan opinions, Branson kept arguing until Abbot ejected him from the game. And then he argued some more before yielding to the majority's desire to finish the game.

"Yeah, I think they missed it," Pankovits admitted after the game. "But they're human. That ball was a rocket and it had a lot of hook to it."

Pankovits, who was a roving instructor in the Houston Astros organization before coming to Salem as manager in 2006, said he'd seen a worse home run call.

"It was at Myrtle Beach four or five years ago," Pankovits said. "I think [manager] Ivan DeJesus and [pitching coach] Stan Boroski got thrown out of that one."

Pankovits pointed out that the phantom home run didn't not win the game for Salem. Trinidad combined with Raymar Diaz and Jason Dominguez to shut out the Hillcats on just five hits. And the Avalanche plated two more runs.

Jhon Florentino led off the Salem seventh with a double and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sal Iacono. He scored on a Ryan Reed grounder to short, even though the Hillcats had their infield pulled in to try to stop the run.

In the eighth, Jordan Parraz drew a one out walk and came all the way around to score when Clemens blooped a single into shallow right. The second baseman was covering the bag, and the right fielder was too deep to get to the ball. By the time the ball was even picked up, Parraz was dashing home.

How the runs scored

Salem fourth: Two outs. Clemens homered. Avalanche 1, Hillcats 0.

Salem seventh: Florentino doubled and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Iacono. Reed grounded into a fielders choice and went to second on a throwing error by Picart, Florentino scored. Avalanche 2, Hillcats 0.

Salem eighth: One out. Parraz walked. Van Ostrand flied out. Clemens singled and went to second on the throw, Parraz scored. Avalanche 3, Hillcats 0.

LYNCHBURG SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Gonzalez 2b 4 0 0 0 Sutil 2b 4 0 1 0

Laboy cf 3 0 0 0 Rosales rf 4 0 1 0

Negrych dh 4 0 2 0 Torres ss 4 0 2 0

Sakamoto 1b 4 0 1 0 Parraz cf 3 1 0 0

Lerud c K3 0 1 0 Van Ostrand 1b 3 0 1 0

Keel lf 3 0 1 0 Clemens c 4 1 2 2

Prasch 3b 3 0 0 0 Florentino 3b 3 1 1 0

Mansolino rf 3 0 0 0 Iacono dh 2 0 0 0

Picart ss 3 0 0 0 Reed lf 3 0 0 0

Totals 27 0 5 0 Totals 30 3 8 2

Lynchburg 000 000 000 -- 0

Salem 000 100 11x -- 3

E--Keel (2), Picart (2), Van Ostrand (1). LOB--Lynchburg 5, Salem 7. DP--Salem. 2B--Lerud (4), Negrych (6), Torres 2 (5), Rosales (4), Florentino (3). HR--Clemens (1). CS--Negrych (2), Sutil (1). S--Florentino, Iacono.

IP H R ER BB SO

Lynchburg

Watson L, 0-3 5 2-3 6 1 1 1 3

Cuffman 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Johnson 2 2 2 2 1 0

Salem

Trinidad W, 2-0 7 4 0 0 2 4

Diaz 1 0 0 0 0 1

Dominguez S, 3 1 1 0 0 0 1

Umpires--Home: Abbott; Bases: Dudones.

T--2:16. Att.--2,711.