May 19, 2013
99
Games Today




Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

June 7, 2012 - Carolina League (CarL) Lynchburg Hillcats

LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (29-28) @ MYRTLE BEACH (30-28)

June 7th, 2012 -- 7:05 PM

Ticketreturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark

RHP J.R. Graham (6-1, 2.77) vs RHP Cody Buckel (4-2, 1.27)

THE HILLCATS: Last night, the Hillcats snapped their season-worst losing streak at eight games with an 8-1 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans...Lynchburg broke the game open early with a seven-run third inning...They racked up seven hits and saw eleven batters come to the plate in the frame...SS Nick Ahmed and RF Matt Weaver highlighted the inning with a two-run double and a three-run homer respectively...LHP Dimasther Delgado, pitching on three days rest, went five scoreless innings and got the win, and LHP Matt Chaffee completed the final four innings to earn his fourth save...The Hillcats are now 29-28 and remain in first place in the Northern Division by just 1.5 games with 13 to play...

VS. MYRTLE BEACH: Lynchburg currently leads the season series 5-4 over the Pelicans...Tuesday night's 5-4 Hillcats loss was the sixth of now nine meetings between the two team that have been decided by just one run...The Pelicans traveled to Lynchburg May 4-6...The Hillcats took two of three and have now won the first two games in Myrtle Beach...The Hillcats were just in Myrtle Beach two weeks ago and took two out of three again...Last year, the Pelicans took the season series 11-9...

NINE LIVES: The 'Cats were facing the possibility of losing nine in a row last night and the danger of falling out of first place for the first time since Opening Day...They responded with a seven-run third inning and cruised to an 8-1 win snapping the slide...The seven-run frame was a new season-high for the club...Previously, they hadn't scored more than five in an inning...Seven runs was also equal to the number of runs scored in games two through seven of the losing streak (two or less in each game)....Overall the 'Cats were outscored 44-14 over the eight-game slide...

IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR: Coming into action today, the Hillcats, who have been in first place since the very first game of the season are just a 1.5 games up on the second place Wilmington Blue Rocks in the Northern Division...The 'Cats picked up a game last night...Prior to this recent losing streak, no team had been within 1.5 games since Wilmington was that close heading into action April 27...Currently the Hillcats are 29-28 (13 games to play in the half), and the Blue Rocks are 28-30 (12 games to play until the half)...

WHAT A MOVE: 3B Edward Salcedo was in the midst of a 6-for-44 (.136) slump in his last 13 games (including one pinch-hit appearance) and was scheduled to get a day off until OF Kyle Rose was scratched from the lineup late...Salcedo turned in his fourth three-hit game of the season and saw his average rise nine points to .252...It had dropped from .265 to .243 during the aforementioned slide...Has kept up the power with three home runs during that stretch...

WAY BACK WEAVER: Utility man, Matt Weaver, hit his fourth home run of the season last night capping the seven-run third inning for Lynchburg...After hitting three tape measure shots in his firs seven games, he went 18 games (58 at-bats) without a long ball...The homer also snapped an 0-for-14 slide without any type of hit...His average dipped from .258 to .218 in that stretch...He finished 1-for-4 last night, lifting his clip to just .220...

FOUR FOR FOURTH: LHP Matt Chaffee completed four innings for the first time in his career last night...He entered in the sixth and finished the game for the Hillcats, recording his fourth save of the season...The 2011 12th round selection had only completed three innings in a single outing just once before...He threw three scoreless September 3, 2011 with the Low-A Rome...He faced 17 batters, eclipsing his previous high of ten batters...

THE SPARK PLUG: SS Nick Ahmed doubled in the first two runs in the seven-run third inning last night...They were his first RBI since May 25...Went ten games without driving in a run (second time that has happened this year)...He also scored a run last night, his team-leading 38th of the season...That also ranks third in the league...He finished the night just 1-for-4 as he slowly comes out of a recent slump...Snapped an 0-for-23 stretch with a single two nights ago...Still just 2-for-32 over his last nine games...His average has dipped from .275 to now .246 in that span...It's his lowest mark since he was batting .200 four games into the season...

2012 DRAFT CLASS: The Braves selected RHP Lucas Sims with the 21st overall pick in the first round out of Brookwood HS in Snellville, GA...Overall the Braves selected 17 pitchers (14 RHP), ten OF, nine INF, and four C...Sims was one of 15 HS selections...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Cody Buckel was selected in the second round of the 2010 draft by the Rangers out of Royal High School in California...Named a Louisville Slugger HS All-American...Won a gold medal with the 2009 USA U18 National Team...Was committed to Pepperdine University before signing with the Rangers...Only made four appearances in his rookie after signing July 27, 2010...Pitched five scoreless innings and struck out nine in the Arizona League...Moved up to Low-A Hickory in 2011...Went 8-3 with a 2.61 ERA in 23 games, 17 starts...Struck out 120 in 96.2 innings while walking just 27...Was rated the 28th-best Rangers prospect heading into 2011 and jumped to the sixth-rated prospect this season...He currently leads the Carolina League in ERA (1.27) and strikeouts (81), ranks second in WHIP ratio (0.95)...Also leads the circuit in batting average against (.176)...He is 4-2 through his first eleven starts this season...In one start against the Hillcats, he threw seven innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out five...OF Adam Milligan homered off him and the Hillcats won the game 2-1...

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us


Carolina League Stories from June 7, 2012


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.