Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Several members of the Salem Red Sox watch the Lynchburg Hillcats celebrate winning the Carolina League championship.

The Lynchburg Hillcats celebrate after winning the Carolina League championship series Thursday night over the Salem Red Sox.

Lynchburg's Alex Presley, slides safely into second base in front of Salem shortstop Ryan Dent during the third inning of Game 3 of the Mills Cup championship series at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

The last comeback fell short.

The Salem Red Sox clawed their way back from eight-games below .500 in the second half and a into the Carolina League playoffs with an 11-4 run strewn with come-from-behind victories at the end of the regular season. They swept Winston-Salem in three games in the Southern Division championship series, but even the second and third wins in that series were comeback victories earned in extra innings.

Against Lynchburg in the Carolina League's Mills Cup championship series, the Red Sox couldn't come back again. Salem fell behind the Hillcats, losing the first two games, then in Thursday's win-or-go home Game 3, the Sox gave up seven runs in the first two innings and despite scratching and scraping their way to putting the potential winning run on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning, fell 8-7.

Lynchburg mobbed the field while some Sox players sat and watched from the dugout.

"It gets old watching other people celebrate," said Salem designated hitter Mike Jones. "Especially on our field."

"We can use it as motivation for next year," said third baseman Jon Hee.

Salem finished its regular season 70-74 overall and went 35-35 in the second half to earn the Southern Division's second playoff spot on the last day of the regular season.

With a spot start from major leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka on a rehab assignment in the opening game, the Red Sox won three straight from Winston-Salem.

But they had to wait two days while Lynchburg came back to beat Wilmington in the Northern Division championship series in five games.

The best-of-five Mills Cup series started with two games in Lynchburg. The Hillcats won the opener 9-2 and won Game 2 5-4 on Tuesday.

When the series moved to Salem, Lynchburg needed just one win in three games to take the title.

Salem had to win them all.

Thursday's game didn't start well, for either team. Hillcats starter Jeff Locke made it just 1¹₃ innings. Salem starter Kyle Weiland lasted 1²₃.

After two innings, Salem had scored four runs on six hits three walks and a Hillcat error. Lynchburg had topped that with seven runs on four hits, three walks, two errors and two wild pitches.

The Hillcats tacked on an eighth run in the top of the fourth inning. At the time they were up 8-4 and the run looked like icing. It turned out they needed it.

Zach Borowiak led off the Salem sixth with a single, then shortstop Ryan Dent hit his second homer of the playoffs to halve Lynchburg's lead. Che-Hsuan Lin followed with a single and was on third with one out when Alex Presley made a leaping grab in left to rob Anthony Rizzo of an RBI-double.

Brad Correll walked, but Jones grounded out to end the inning.

Dent drew a walk to lead off the Salem eighth, but got thrown out trying to steal second.

But with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Correll drew another walk and went to second when Jones lined a single into left. Luis Segovia came in to pinch run for Jones.

Tim Federowicz singled to center to bring Correll home, cutting the Lynchburg lead to 8-7.

The Hillcats brought in closer Ronald Uviedo and Chih-Hsien Chiang grounded out to first, moving the runners up to second and third.

Zach Borowiak then grounded out to end the game and Salem's season.

"It sucks losing the last game," reliever Derrick Loop said. "We were one hit away from a win."

HOW THE RUNS SCORED

Lynchburg first: One out. Harrison walked. Mercer doubled, Harrison scored. Hillcats 1, Red Sox 0.

Salem first: Lin singled. Hee struck out. Rizzo singled and went to second on the throw, Lin to third. Correll walked. Jones singled, Lin scored, Rizzo scored, Correll to third. Federowicz flied out, Correll scored. Red Sox 3, Hillcats 1.

Lynchburg second: Sanchez singled. Hague walked, Sanchez to second. Presley sacrifice bunted, Sanchez to third, Hague to second. De los Santos struck out but reached on a wild pitch by Weiland. d'Arnaud doubled, Sanchez scored, Hague scored, de los Santos to third. Harrison reached on an error by Weiland, de los Santos scored. d'Arnaud to third on a wild pitch by Weiland, Harrison to second. Mercer reached on an error by Rizzo, d'Arnaud scored, Harrison to third. Romak doubled, Harrison scored, Mercer scored. Hillcats 7, Red Sox 3.

Salem second: One out. Lin walked. Hee singled and went to second on an error by Presley, Lin to third. Rizzo singled, Lin scored. Hillcats 7, Red Sox 4.

Lynchburg fourth: Harrison reached on a bunt singled. Mercer doubled, Harrison to third. Romak singled, Harrison scored. Hillcats 8, Red Sox 4.

Salem sixth: Borowiak singled. Dent homered, Borowiak scored. Hillcats 8, Red Sox 6.

Salem ninth: One out. Correll walked. Jones singled, Correll to second. Segovia pinch ran for Jones. Federowicz singled, Correll scored. Hillcats 8, Red Sox 7.

LYNCHBURG SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

d'Arnaud 2b 5 1 1 2 Lin cf 4 2 2 0

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

Mercer ss 5 1 4 2 Rizzo 1b 5 1 2 1

Romak rf 4 0 3 3 Correll rf 2 2 0 0

Watts dh 5 0 0 0 Jones dh 4 0 2 2

Sanchez c 5 1 1 0 Federowicz c 4 0 1 2

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

Presley lf 4 0 0 0 Borowiak 2b 4 1 1 0

De Los Santos cf 4 1 0 0 Dent ss 3 1 1 2

Segovia pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 40 8 11 7 Totals 36 7 11 7

Lynchburg 160 100 000 -- 8

Salem 310 002 001 -- 7

E--Presley (2), Weiland (1), Rizzo (1), Hee (3). DP--Salem. LOB--Lynchburg 9, Salem 10. 2B--Mercer 2 (2), d'Arnaud (3), Romak (2), Hague (3). HR--Dent (2). S--Presley. SF--Federowicz. CS--Dent (1).

IP H R ER BB SO

Lynchburg

Locke 1 2-3 6 4 4 3 2

Colla W,1-0 3 1-3 0 0 0 1 0

McSwain 1 3 2 2 1 0

Aguero 2 1-3 2 1 1 2 3

Uviedo S,3 2-3 0 0 0 0 0

Salem

Weiland L,0-1 1 1-3 4 7 4 3 1

McKae 2 3 1 1 0 0

Coello 2 1-3 2 0 0 0 3

Blackey 2 1 0 0 0 2

Loop 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 1

WP--McSwain, Weiland 2, McKae.

Umpires--Home: Scheurwater; 1B: Ashcraft; 2B: Dudones; 3B: Kline.

T--3:10.

Att.--2,513.