CarL1 Hill City Howlers

Hillcats Game Notes

Published on August 6, 2008 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release


THE HILLCATS: Last night Lynchburg snapped their 11-game losing streak with a 10-2 victory over Potomac at City Stadium...The 11-game skid had matched the longest in team history...They still remain two and a half games behind Wilmington for the final playoff spot in the Northern Division after a Blue Rocks win last night...Monday night marked the start of a stretch of 18 out of 27 at home for Lynchburg that will round out the 2008 campaign...

VS. POTOMAC: The P-Nats are 10-6 against the Cats this year and are 6-3 at City Stadium...The Hillcats were just 5-14 against the Nationals in 2007...Lynchburg still holds the all-time series edge 137-136...

STREAK SNAPPED IN STYLE: Last night's 10-2 win stopped an 11-game losing streak that had matched the longest skid in team history...The Hillcats have lost 11 games in a row on two other occasions, once in 1996 (4/26-5/6) and once a season ago (8/17-9/1)...It was the first time they had won a game since July 23rd and it was the eighth time this season they have won by eight or more...They still are just 5-21 since July 10th after a 12-7 start to the second half...

DESPERATELY SEEKING SERIES: Tonight the Hillcats try and take game three from Potomac and win their first series since July 5-7 when they took two out of three from Frederick...That victory gave them five series wins in a row, but since then they have gone 0-6-2 and had been swept in the last three series...The Cats are 8-5 in rubber matches this season...

DEALING DOC: LHP Brian Holliday tossed six scoreless innings and allowed two hits on just three days of rest last night in picking up his fifth win of the season...The southpaw has allowing one run or less in his last four starts for the Hillcats, four his last five starts have been quality outings and he is 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA in his last those five outings since he snapped an eight-game losing streak on July 2nd...During that time he also pitched the second complete game of his career and his first since 2003 in a victory for Double-A Altoona (seven innings pitched and one earned run allowed)...

THE CHANGE WILL DO YOU GOOD: INF Danny Bomback went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored in the Hillcats win last night...In seven games in the Green & Gold he has gone 10-for-23 (.435) with a home run, four RBI and four runs scored...This after the infielder hit .247 with one home run and 25 RBI in 49 games with Low-A Hickory...

CLUBBING KEEL: LF Jared Keel collected his first three-hit game of the season with a 3-for-4 performance a night ago...He put the first run of the game on the board in the second inning with his team leading 14th home run of the season and would later add a double and a single...He scored three runs and drove in his team-leading 66th run of the year...By hitting in three straight games (5-for-12) Keel has raised his average to .220 for the first time since June 26th...The three hits matched his career-high and last night was the 12th time he has accomplished the feat...

BACK WITH A BOOM: 1B Kent Sakamoto broke a 1-for-16 slump with a 3-for-5 game last night...He hit a three-run home run that in the eighth inning that gave the Cats a four-run frame and a ten-run lead...It was Sakamoto's first three-run home run of the season and the eighth by a Hillcat (they also have two grand slams)...

SILVER LINING: Last night C Kris Watts went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a walk...Over the his last 11 games the former 16th round draft pick has gone 16-for-35 (.457) with nine runs scored, six RBI, two doubles and 11 walks...He has now reached safely in 18 straight games and is three games shy of tying Jim Negrych for the longest streak by a Hillcat...

DOUBLE DIGITS: The Hillcats have allowed double digits in runs 19 times this season to the seven other teams in the Carolina League...Six of those occasions came courtesy of the Nationals...Four of the 13 times the Cats have put up double digits it has against the Nats including last night's 10-2 win...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Luis Atilano was originally drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the first round of the 2003 amateur entry draft...That pick was compensation for the Mets signing Tom Glavine...He made his professional debut with the GCL Braves in 2003 and went 3-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 12 starts...The following season he advanced to the Danville Braves in the Appalachian League (rookie) and posted 5-1 record with a 4.20 ERA in 13 starts...In 2005 he moved up again to Low-A Rome and went 8-9 with a 4.17 ERA and started in the South Atlantic League All-Star game...Then in 2006 he recorded a record of 6-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 24 starts before he season ended due to an injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery...He was traded in August of that year for 1B Daryle Ward to the Washington organization...Last season he made just one appearance with the GCL Nationals (one and 1/3 inning and one run allowed)...This year he began with Low-A Hagerstown and made seven appearances (three starts), recorded a save and posted 3.16 ERA...He was since spent time with both Potomac and Double-A Harrisburg, going 4-1 with a 2.11 ERA in 11 appearances (seven starts) with the P-Nats and an 0-1 record in two games (one start) in Harrisburg...He made two starts against Lynchburg in 2006 and went 0-1 with 8.10 ERA and has made one start against the Hillcats this year, he went five innings allowed one run and picked up the win on July 17th in Woodbridge, VA...

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Carolina League Stories from August 6, 2008


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