Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Salem's Jon Hee is out as he's tagged by Lynchburg shortstop Chase d'Arnoud on an attempted steal of second base in the fifth inning, marking the third out of the inning on Saturday night against the Hillcats.

Hillcats outfielder Alex Presley catches a ball hit by Jon Hee in the fifth inning, the second out in the inning for the Red Sox on Saturday night.

Salem's season won't end Monday.

The Red Sox clinched at least a tie for the last available Carolina League playoff spot with a thrilling 7-6 comeback victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats in 11 innings on Saturday night at Salem Memorial Ballpark. They have a shot at even more.

Ryan Dent's RBI single with two outs in the 11th gave Salem a two-game lead over the Kinston Indians in the race for the playoffs and tied the Red Sox for first place in the Southern Division's second-half standings with Winston-Salem with two games to go in the regular season.

It also earned him a full-body shower of shaving cream.

"I tried to duck and take cover," said Dent, who failed so completely that even his ears were filled with foam. "It was raining, extra innings and then I got shaving cream all over me. It couldn't have been better."

A single Salem win or Kinston loss over the next two days would give the Sox the playoff berth. Two Salem losses and two Kinston wins would force a tie-breaking game in Salem on Tuesday.

Winning the division outright over Winston-Salem, the first-half champ, would mean that Salem would host the last three games of the best-of-five division championship series, if all are needed. If it edges out Kinston for the playoffs, but finishes second or ties Winston-Salem, Salem would only get to host Games 3 and 4 (if needed).

The Red Sox had to scrap to put themselves in this position after giving up five unearned runs in the third inning. Center fielder Che-Hsuan Lin and pitcher Dave McKae each had an error in the frame. McKae also hit a batter and gave up three hits.

The Hillcats tacked on a sixth run in the fourth inning, but turned right around and gave the Red Sox a boost with two errors in the fifth.

Salem took advantage, scoring three runs -- one earned -- on three hits and errors by Alex Presley and Tony Sanchez. Nate Adcock also had a wild pitch in the inning as the Red Sox cut their deficit in half.

Reliever Jose Capellan pitched two innings for Salem. Kyle Fernandes took over in the seventh. He ended up staying in for a season-high four innings to hold off the Hillcats while his teammates came back.

"It was definitely uncharted territory for him, going four innings. But every time he came back in the dugout he was fired up," Epperson said. "That was as pumped up as I've seen this young man."

The Red Sox added a run on a two-out, RBI double by Anthony Rizzo in the eighth.

Mike Jones and Chih-Hsien Chiang led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles. Epperson sent Luis Segovia in to pinch run for Jones, then Zach Borowiak laid down a sacrifice bunt to push the runners into scoring position.

Tim Federowicz came up with a pinch-hit single to bring Segovia home and send Chiang to third base. Then Dent hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Chiang to tie it 6-6 and force extra innings.

Fernandes didn't come out until the 11th.

"The team needed me," Fernandes said. "I did everything I could."

Jason Blackey took over for the Red Sox, but walked the leadoff batter and gave up a double to Jamie Romak.

The next batter was Kris Watts, the Carolina League's leading hitter. Blackey struck him out.

He walked Tony Sanchez, then got Matt Hague to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Chiang, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles, led off the 11th with a double off Mike Colla. Borowiak tried to bunt him over to third, but popped up to Colla, and catcher Danny Butler flied out to right.

That brought Dent, who'd already had a double, two singles and two RBIs, to the plate.

"We were joking around before the game. I said 'hey, you're allowed to get more than one hit in a game,' " Epperson said. "That's a big night for him. To get production like that from your nine-hole hitter ... They're all feeding off of one another.

"It's special. It is."

How the runs scored

Lynchburg third: D'Arnaud hit by a pitch by McKae. Harrison singled, D'Arnaud to second. Mercer reached on a fielder's choice, Harrison out at second, D'Arnaud to third on the groundout and scored on an error by McKae. Romak reached and went to second on an error by Lin, Mercer to third. Watts grounded out, Mercer scored, Romak to third. Sanchez doubled, Romak scored. Hague singled and went to second on the throw, Sanchez scored. Marte singled and went to second on the throw, Hague scored. Hillcats 5, Red Sox 0.

Lynchburg fourth: D'Arnaud doubled. Harrison grounded out, D'Arnaud to third. Mercer flied out, Harrison scored. Hillcats 6, Red Sox 0.

Salem fifth: Chiang doubled. Chiang went to third on a wild pitch by Adcock. Borowiak struck out but reached on a throwing error by Sanchez. Vazquez struck out. Dent singled, Chiang scored, Borowiak to second. Lin singled, Borowiak scored, Dent went to second on the hit and to third on an error by Presley. Hee flied out, Dent scored. Hillcats 6, Red Sox 3.

Salem eighth: Dent singled. Lin flied out. Hee flied out. Rizzo doubled, Dent scored. Hillcats 6, Red Sox 4.

Salem ninth: Jones singled. Chiang singled, Jones to second. Segovia pinch ran for Jones. Borowiack sacrifice bunted, Segovia to third, Chiang to second. Federowicz singled, Segovia scored, Chiang to third. Dent flied out, Chiang scored. Dent flied out, Chiang scored. Red Sox 6, Hillcats 6.

Salem 11th: Chiang doubled. Borowiak popped out trying to bunt. Butler flied out. Dent singled, Chiang scored. Red Sox 7, Hillcats 6.

LYNCHBURG SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

d'Arnaud ss 5 2 2 0 Lin cf 5 0 2 1

Harrison 2b 5 0 2 0 Hee 3b 4 0 0 1

Mercer 3b 4 1 1 1 Rizzo 1b 5 0 2 1

Romak rf 5 1 2 0 Correll rf 5 0 0 0

Watts dh 5 0 0 1 Jones dh 4 0 1 0

Sanchez c 4 1 1 1 Segovia pr-dh 1 1 0 0

Hague 1b 5 1 2 1 Chiang lf 5 3 4 0

Marte cf 2 0 2 1 Borowiak 2b 4 1 0 0

Presley pr-cf 3 0 1 0 Vazquez c 3 0 0 0

De Los Santos lf 5 0 0 0 Federowicz ph 1 0 1 1

Butler c 1 0 0 0

Dent ss 4 2 4 3

Totals 43 6 13 5 Totals 42 7 14 7

Lynchburg 005 100 000 00-- 6

Salem 000 030 012 01-- 7

E--Sanchez (1), Presley (8), McKay, Lin (11). DP--Lynchburg 1, Salem 1. LOB--Lynchburg 13, Salem 6. 2B--Mercer (35), Sanchez (1), d'Arnaud (18), Romak 2 (8), Dent (3), Rizzo 2 (15), Chiang 2 (21). S--Harrison, Borowiak. SF--Mercer, Hee, Dent. CS--Presley (5), Lin (11).

IP H R ER BB SO

Lynchburg

Adcock 5 5 3 1 0 4

Krol 2 1 0 0 0 1

Boleska 1 2 1 1 0 1

McSwain 1 4 2 2 0 0

Colla L,6-3 1 2-3 2 1 1 0 1

Salem

McKae 4 8 6 1 0 2

Capellan 2 1 0 0 2 2

Fernandes 4 3 0 0 1 3

Blackey W,2-0 1 1 0 0 2 1

WP--Adcock.

HBP--by McKae (d'Arnaud), by Capellan (Sanchez).

Umpires--Home: Benham; Bases: Dudones.

T--3:30.; A--4,402.