CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Salem Squashes Lynchburg 4-0

Published on April 12, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Salem, VA (April 12, 2011) - Lynchburg's Cory Rasmus was more dominant at the outset, but Salem's Chris Balcom-Miller stymied his foe longer and prevailed on Tuesday evening at LewisGale Field. Balcom-Miller escaped early threats and delivered five scoreless innings in his Carolina League debut to help the Red Sox shut out the Hillcats 4-0.

Rasmus nearly matched a Carolina League record in his astounding start, striking out eight straight Red Sox batters to begin the game. Salem's number-nine hitter, Vladimir Frias, became the first to hit the ball in fair territory, but his dribbler in front of home plate also was turned into an easy out to complete three perfect innings. The Hillcats' righthander picked up his ninth K by getting Peter Hissey to open the fourth, but ran out of gas after that.

Jeremy Hazelbaker worked a walk to become Salem's first baserunner with one out in the fourth inning, and he scored two batters later when Reynaldo Rodriguez tripled into the right-center field gap. Rasmus lost his composure, hit Dan Butler, and then tossed a wild pitch that allowed Rodriguez to score and give Salem a 2-0 lead.

In the last of the fifth, David Mailman scorched a line-drive single into center-field to begin the frame, and Derrik Gibson followed with a powerful two-run launch over the wall in left, vaulting the Red Sox into a 4-0 advantage.

The four runs were more than enough for Balcom-Miller and the relief duo of Jeremiah Bayer and Will Latimer. The trio combined to strike out eight Hillcats and yield just four hits in the game. Moreover, the Salem pitching staff held the Cats without a hit in ten at-bats with runners in scoring position. Balcom-Miller, making just his second regular-season start for the Boston organization after being acquired from Colorado at the 2010 Trade Deadline, earned the victory for Salem.

Rasmus suffered the loss, despite falling just one shy of the league record for consecutive strikeouts. Two Carolina League pitchers have whiffed nine in a row, a feat achieved most recently in 1982.

The win improves the Sox to 2-1 on the young season, despite a slow offensive start that sees the Sox with a .192 average through three games. Alas, Salem has registered a .333 (6-18) mark with runners in scoring position, providing timely production in the early going.

Salem aims for its third straight win on Wednesday as Ryan Pressly makes his first Carolina League start. Lynchburg will counter with Willie Kempf as the middle-matchup of the series gets underway at 7:05.

Check out the Salem RidgeYaks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from April 12, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central