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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes: July 18, 2014

July 18, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


A WEIRD NIGHT: Glenn Sparkman turned in another stellar outing Thursday night at Pfitzner Stadium, hurling six frames and yielding just one run while leading the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a 4-1 victory over the Potomac Nationals. Prior to first pitch, the Blue Crew and P-Nats also completed a game that was suspended in a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning on July 10. The Nationals claimed a 2-1 walk-off victory in that one thanks to an RBI single by Randolph Oduber. Wilmington is still .500 (13-13) in the second half and 46-48 overall.

SPARKMAN STILL GOING STRONG: Glenn Sparkman dazzled again for Wilmington on Thursday, hurling six fantastic frames. The right-hander was in and out of trouble throughout the contest, but managed to escape with minimal damage. He yielded just one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out five. Sparkman picked up the win and improved to 6-2 on the season. His ERA remained at a sparkling 1.43, which places him atop the Carolina League leaderboard. Sparkman has given up 56 hits and 15 walks while striking out 70 in 75.1 innings pitched. Righties are batting just .223 against Sparkman while lefties are hitting a mere .183 against him. The 6-foot-2 hurler began the campaign in the bullpen and was excellent there. He went 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 11 relief appearances while striking out 27 and walking seven in 23.2 innings pitched. After getting shifted to the starting rotation in late-May, Sparkman has been even better. As a starter, he is 4-1 with a 1.05 ERA in 10 outings. He has fanned 43 and issued eight bases on balls in 51.2 frames as a starting pitcher.

MARVELOUS MICHAEL ANTONIO: Michael Antonio stayed hot for the Blue Rocks in Thursday night's win against the P-Nats. Antonio finished the night 1-for-3 with an RBI double and a sacrifice bunt. The right-handed hitting slugger was also tremendous in Wednesday's doubleheader at Pfitzner Stadium. He went a combined 6-for-7 with three runs, two doubles, a homer, an RBI and a walk during the twin-bill. After struggling when he was called up from Low-A Lexington in May, Antonio has done nothing but hit since. He batted .161 in 18 May games, hit .328 in 18 June contests and is hitting .421 in 11 July games. Since the All-Star Break, Antonio is batting at a .431 clip with 12 runs, 10 doubles, two triples, three homers and 12 RBIs. He has been at his best with runners on base. Antonio is hitting .316 with runners aboard the basepaths and .261 with the bases empty. Overall this season, Antonio is batting .287 with 27 runs, 16 doubles, two triples, five homers and 26 RBIs in 47 games for the Blue Crew.

SCHLEHUBER SHAPING UP: Jared Schlehuber's 3-for-4 performance Thursday was just his second multi-hit game in 2014 as a member of the Blue Crew. The great day at the plate pushed his average from .193 up to .230 on the season. Schlehuber has also ripped three doubles and three homers while driving in eight and walking 13 times since moving to Wilmington from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He is currently working on a three-game hitting streak. Schlehuber has been better away from Frawley Stadium. He is batting .263 with a .383 on-base percentage on the road and .174 with a .296 on-base percentage at home. Schlehuber began the year with the Naturals and hit .177 with five doubles, two homers and 12 RBIs.

WALK-OFF MELANCHOLY: Potomac's walk-off win against the Blue Rocks on Thursday in the continuation of the July 10 suspended game between the two clubs was the seventh by a Blue Crew opponent this season. It was also the third of the year by the Potomac Nationals against Wilmington. No other Blue Rocks opponent has walked off on the team more than twice. Potomac also walked off on the Blue Rocks in the July 10 opener on an RBI single by Tony Renda. On June 6, Wilmington held a 10-6 lead entering the bottom of the ninth. The Nationals proceeded to score five times off of Daniel Stumpf and Johnny Walter to win in dramatic fashion. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Winston-Salem Dash and Salem Red Sox (twice) have also walked off on the Rocks. Wilmington also has four walk-off victories this year. The Rocks have won in such fashion against the Pelicans, Red Sox, Carolina Mudcats and Frederick Keys.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "I don't think [Glenn Sparkman's] location was there tonight. He wasn't hitting his spots as much as he normally does. He battled and when he needed to make a pitch he was able to make it. He gave us six innings and did a great job...That's what you look for in a starting pitcher. 'How is he when he doesn't have his good stuff?' We can all play this game at the top of our game and it seems pretty easy. When guys are struggling, and really can't make a pitch here and there, they're battling out there. That shows a lot for the pitcher. He's done a great job of when he doesn't have his good stuff, he's able to still go out there and put quality innings up for us and get us deep in the game. Playing all of these games in two days, the bullpen had a lot of work yesterday. Going into today, we had a few healthy arms and he did a great job by sucking up six innings there. Going unnoticed was Aroni Nina coming out of the pen. He threw two great innings for us and picked us up to get us to [Mark] Peterson...It's a big benefit for us [to have a good bullpen], and it's not the same guy, too. That's what's great about it. We can go to anybody down there to get us to the back end of the game and then [Mark] Peterson has been outstanding all year. [He has] only the two blown saves. That's baseball. You're not going to have too many perfect seasons as a closer. Really, what has gone unnoticed is those guys in the middle, being able to keep the lead for us. Using a number of guys. They've really made our job easy and it's starting to pay off..Besides our pitching, our defense has really helped us out. Not only just the great plays that they make. You look at that outfield and the balls that are hit that we're able to run down in the gaps. Tonight, Sparkman gives up a fly ball into right-center, he's backing up home plate thinking the guy is going to score and here's [Daniel] Rockett coming over and making a play. All of those things, you add them up, and it saves a lot of runs."

Today's Game One Starters

WIL: LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (5-5, 2.82)

vs.

POT: RHP Austin Voth (2-0, 0.35)

Lefty Jonathan Dziedzic has been one of Wilmington's best starting pitchers in 2014. The southpaw takes the mound on Friday for his 17th start of the campaign and will look to pick up his sixth win. Dziedzic has struck out 79 batters in 83 innings pitched this season while delivering a 2.82 ERA and a 5-5 record. His ERA ranks sixth in the Carolina League. The crafty lefty has been better within the pitcher-friendly confines of Frawley Stadium than on the road. He is 3-3 with a paltry 1.76 ERA in seven starts at home and 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in nine outings on the road. Left-handed hitters are batting .268 against Dziedzic, while righties are hitting .259. Those spectacular overall numbers earned Dziedzic a spot on the 2014 Carolina League All-Star Team. His most recent start came on July 12 at Frawley Stadium against the Salem Red Sox. The southpaw tossed six sterling frames that night and yielded just one run on seven hits and two walks. He also fanned seven. Dziedzic, who is Lamar University's all-time strikeouts leader, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th Round of the 2013 Draft. He was also taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 37th round of the 2012 Draft, but elected to return to school. As a high school senior, Dziedzic threw a no-hitter.

Right-hander Austin Voth was selected by the Washington Nationals in the Fifth Round of the 2013 Draft. Voth began the campaign with Low-A Hagerstown and was dominant there. He made 13 starts for Hagerstown, posting a 4-3 record and a 2.45 ERA. He struck out 74 and walked 22 there in 69.2 innings pitched. Voth has continued his dominance since receiving a promotion to Advanced-A Potomac. With the P-Nats, he has compiled a 2-0 record and an 0.35 ERA in four starts. The right- handed hurler has also punched out 28 and issued four free passes in 26 innings pitched. Most impressively, Voth has only allowed nine hits in those 26 frames on the mound. The 6-foot- 1, 190-pound pitcher is a native of Redmond Washington. He attended the University of Washington in Seattle and pitched there for three seasons prior to signing professionally for a reported $272,800. In his junior season at Washington, Voth finished second in the Pac-12 in punchouts. Mark Appel, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 Draft, finished first. Upcoming Probable Starters and Schedule

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