Michael Crotta was doing what he needed to do.

The Lynchburg starter was throwing sinkers and that was plenty good enough to befuddle the Salem Avalanche bats.

Crotta gave up one hit through six innings to lead the Hillcats to an 8-3 Carolina League win on a steamy Sunday afternoon at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

Tim Torres belted a one-out double in the first inning and then, Crotta sent the next 19 batters down in order. It wasn't so much that Crotta, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who came in with a 4-4 record and a 5.27 ERA, has devastating stuff.

"He pitched great, but I don't think we had that many great at-bats," Avalanche designated hitter Koby Clemens said. "And I count myself in this, we had a lot of bad at-bats and we didn't make adjustments and he shoved it up our rear end."

Crotta went 6²₃ innings, allowing a run on two hits. He didn't give up a walk.

He struck out four batters and got five fly outs. The rest were ground outs.

"He kept throwing sinkers and we kept hitting them right into the ground," Clemens said.

Crotta got a lot of run support. The Hillcats outhit Salem 15-5 and were already up 1-0 in the second thanks to a two-out double by Eddie Prasch and an RBI single by Tony Mansolino, when they knocked Salem starter Joel Santo out of the game with a four-run third inning.

With one out, Santo walked Angel Gonzalez and Alex Presley. Jim Negrych -- the league's top hitter -- doubled to bring in one run. Jamie Romak brought in another with a sacrifice fly. A single by Steve Lerud and a double by Prasch, who went 3-for-4, each plated a run for a 5-0 Hillcats lead.

David Qualben came in for Santo. He gave up a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Qualben walked two of the first three batters in the seventh and was relieved by Raymar Diaz. Diaz got a fly out, then Kris Watts belted a double to bring both of the inherited runners home for an 8-0 Lynchburg lead.

Crotta struck out Torres to start the Salem seventh, but Mark Ori ended his string of outs with a single to right. Jimmy Van Ostrand flied out, but the Hillcats pulled Crotta off the mound in favor of reliever Rodolfo Aguirre.

Clemens, at least, was a fan of the move.

"His second pitch was kitchen high. I put a good swing on it and good things happen when you do that," Clemens said.

In this case it was a two-run home run to left-center field that ruined the Hillcats' shutout.

But with a six-run lead, Aguirre had room for mistakes and so he stayed on the mound and retired the next six batters.

With two outs in the ninth. Ori singled and Aguirre walked Van Ostrand. Clemens, warming up to Aguirre by the minute, doubled to left to bring Ori home. Aguirre then walked Justin Tellam and the Hillcats decided that either a five-run lead wasn't enough of a cushion or that it was too hot to sit around a minute longer to wait for Aguirre to get another out.

Jake Cuffman came in to relieve Aguirre, and really everyone in a Hillcats uniform. Cuffman struck out Travis Sweet to end the game.

"We did it a little too late," Clemens said. "We kind of ran out of innings there."

How the runs scored

Lynchburg second: Two outs. Prasch double. Mansolino singled and went to second on the throw, Prasch scored. Hillcats 1, Avalanche 0.

Lynchburg third: One out. Gonzalez walked and went to second on a wild pitch by Santo. Presley walked. Negrych doubled, Gonzalez scored, Presley to third. Romak flied out, Presley scored, Negrych to second. Lerud singled, Negrych scored. Prasch doubled, Lerud scored. Hillcats 5, Avalanche 0.

Lynchburg sixth: Mansolino doubled. Watts singled, Mansolino to third. Picart singled, Mansolino scored. Hillcats 6, Avalanche 0.

Lynchburg seventh: Romak walked. Lerud grounded out, Romak to second. Prasch walked. Diaz relieved Qualben. Mansolino flied out. Watts doubled, Romak scored, Prasch scored. Lynchburg 8, Avalanche 0.

Salem seventh: One out. Ori singled. Van Ostrand flied out. Aguirre relieved Crotta. Clemens homered, Ori scored. Lynchburg 8, Salem 2.

Salem ninth: Two outs. Ori singled. Van Ostrand walked. Clemens doubled, Ori scored. Lynchburg 8, Salem 3.

LYNCHBURG SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Gonzalez 2b 4 1 2 0 Parrax rf 3 0 0 0

Presley cf 4 1 2 0 Quintero rf 1 0 0 0

Negrych 3b 5 1 1 1 Torres ss 4 0 1 0

Romak rf 2 1 0 1 Ori 1b 4 2 2 0

Lerud dh 5 1 1 1 Van Ostrand lf 3 0 0 0

Prasch lf 4 2 3 1 Clemens dh 4 1 2 3

Mansolino 1b 5 1 2 1 Tellam c 3 0 0 0

Watts c 5 0 2 2 Sweet cf 4 0 0 0

Picart ss 5 0 2 1 Buchanan 2b 3 0 0 0

Mena 3b 3 0 0 0

Totals 39 8 15 8 Totals 32 3 5 3

Lynchburg 014 001 200 -- 8

Salem 000 000 201 -- 3

LOB--Lynchburg 10, Salem 4; DP--Salem 2; 2B--Prasch 2 (12), Negrych (16), Mansolino (5), Watts (3), Torres (19), Clemens (15); HR--Clemens (4); SF--Romak.

IP H R ER BB SO

Lynchburg

Crotta W, 5-4 6 2-3 2 1 1 0 4

Aguirre 2 3 2 2 2 3

Cuffman 1-3 0 0 0 0 1

Salem

Santo L, 0-3 2 2-3 6 5 5 2 2

Qualben 3 2-3 5 3 3 2 1

Diaz 2 2-3 4 0 0 1 1

WP--Santo.

Umpires--Segal, home; Soucy, bases. T--2:37. A--2,588.