SALEM, Va. – A five-run third inning lifted the Salem RidgeYaks (55-74, 30-34) to a commanding 11-4 victory over the Hill City Howlers (55-74, 24-39) on Friday night at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
Salem entered the third inning with just one hit, but the Yaks erupted for five runs on three big hits.
Wills Maginnis and Colton Coates drew one-out walks to set the table for Kleyver Salazar, and the catcher capitalized with an RBI single to center field to make it 1-0 Salem.
Josue Brito kept the momentum going a batter later with a three-run moonshot to left field, his second home run of the season and first career homer at Carilion Clinic Field, to make it 4-0.
Five pitches later, Adonys Guzman left the yard for the fourth time this season, launching his eighth long ball of the season to left field to make it 5-0 Yaks after three innings.
Hill City got a run back in the top of the fifth after Pedro Dalmagro led off with a double. An error by Colton Coates allowed Lucas Moore to drive him in, making it a 5-1 ballgame.
The Howlers loaded the bases in the fifth, but Salem reliever Carson Revay induced a crucial 4-6-3 double play to escape the jam with just one run allowed.
The play gave Salem momentum, and the Yaks cashed in during the bottom half of the frame. Salazar laced a single to lead off the inning, and a walk to Guzman allowed Starlyn Nunez to bring home a run with an RBI double to left.
Two batters later, Anderson Fermin continued his scorching stretch when he ripped a two-RBI double into the left-field corner, scoring Guzman and Nunez and giving the Yaks an 8-1 cushion after five innings.
The lead continued to grow in the sixth inning. Salazar ripped his fourth hit of the night to score Maginnis for a ninth run. Later in the frame, Avinson Pinto grounded a ball under the glove of Johan Rodriguez at second base, allowing two more runs to score and giving Salem an 11-1 lead after six innings.
Hill City had one last push in the top of the eighth. With two outs, Angel Abreu drew a walk off Nicolas De La Cruz before Jhorvic Abreu ripped an RBI double off Harry Blum. The next batter, Pedro Dalmagro, launched his second home run of the season to right field for a three-run inning for Hill City, cutting into the deficit and making it 11-4 after 7 1/2 innings.
For the Yaks and their offensive explosion, it was 11 runs on 10 hits, with six different hitters driving in at least one run. Salazar led the way by going 4-for-4 with two RBIs, while Brito added three RBIs on his home run and Fermin also drove in multiple runs.
Cam Padgett earned his first professional start and turned in a career-long 3.2 innings with a career-high five strikeouts before Carson Revay took over and tossed 1.2 innings with two strikeouts.
De La Cruz (7-3) earned the win by hurling 2.1 innings of hitless baseball, allowing one run and striking out five.
With the win, Salem clinches at least a share of the six-game series and will look to take the series outright Saturday night in the penultimate game of the 2026 season. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Carilion Clinic Field, with top-10 prospect Sadbiel Delzine getting the baseball for his final start of the season.
Game Notes
- Salem clinched at least a share of the six-game series over Hill City with the win and clinched a share of the season series over Hill City
- Josue Brito hit his first career home run at Carilion Clinic Field and his second of the season
- Adonys Guzman's completion of the back-to-back homers marked the fifth time this season Salem has hit back-to-back home runs and the first time since Wills Maginnis and Franklin Primera did it Aug. 15 at Delmarva
- Cam Padgett made his first career start and turned in a career-long 3.1 innings pitched with a career-high five strikeouts
- Nicolas De La Cruz earned the win for his team-leading seventh victory of the season
- Seven of De La Cruz's 10 career victories have come this season
- De La Cruz has allowed just two earned runs and six hits over his last four outings and seven innings since Aug. 18
- Kleyver Salazar tied his career high (April 7 vs. Wilson) with four hits and became just the ninth Yaks player this season with a four-hit game
- Starlyn Nunez went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to seven games and his on-base streak to 13 games, dating back to Aug. 18
- Wuilliams Rodriguez has surrendered home runs in back-to-back outings after going 11 straight outings without allowing one across July and August
- The Yaks improved to 33-29 at home and are guaranteed to finish above .500 at Carilion Clinic Field this season for the first time since 2022
- Salem's 11 runs were the most it has scored in a game since scoring 15 against Wilson on Aug. 22
- The Yaks have now scored 712 runs this season and need nine more to break the modern-day record for most runs scored in a single season (720 in 2022)
- Anderson Fermin went 1-for-4 with a two-RBI double in the fifth. Since Aug. 9, Fermin has led the team over his last 13 games with a .384 average (15-for-39), a .990 OPS and a .487 OBP. For context, across his other 61 games this season, Fermin is hitting .219 with a .677 OPS
- With one more win this week, Salem will take the season series over Hill City for the first time since 2021
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