CarL1 Hill City Howlers

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on August 14, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (28-23, 62-59) vs. WINSTON-SALEM DASH (24-28, 54-67)

Thursday, August 14, 2014 -- 7:00 PM

BB&T Ballpark

RHP Lucas Sims (7-9, 4.42) vs. RHP Brandon Brennan (1-0, 2.70)

LAST TIME OUT: The Hillcats beat the Winston-Salem Dash 4-3 last night...The Dash scored the first three runs of the game...3B Trey Michalczewski hit an RBI single in the first...Then, a two-out error at shortstop extended the second inning and SS Cleuluis Rondon drove in two with a single...RHP Wes Parsons left the game after just two frames...LHP Brady Feigl took over on the mound for the Hillcats and the bullpen dominated from there...Feigl combined with RHP Benino Pruneda and RHP David Peterson to throw seven innings of scoreless relief, scattering five hits, no walks, and striking out 13...The offense got on the board in the fourth...1B Justin Bloxom walked and 3B Kevin Ahrens doubled to lead of the inning...Then, a wild pitch allowed Bloxom to score...LHP Carlos Rodon struck out the next two batters before the first call to the bullpen...Rodon gave up just the one run on three hits while walking one and striking out seven in a career-long outing of 3.2 innings...The Hillcats tied the game in the fifth off RHP Terrance Marin...Ahrens collected an RBI single and RF Will Skinner drove in a run as he reach on an error...The game remained tied 3-3 until the ninth...SS Emerson Landoni walked and INF Eric Garcia pinch-ran at first...Garcia stole second base and DH Jose Martinez drove him in with a single to right field...Peterson (1) threw a scoreless bottom of the ninth and earned the save, while Pruneda (2-2) collected the win...The Hillcats are now 28-23 in the second half and just a half game behind the Potomac Nationals for first place in the Northern Division...

VS. WINSTON-SALEM: The Hillcats are 12-7 against the Dash this season...After getting swept in Winston-Salem two weekends ago, the Hillcats just completed a sweep of the Dash this past weekend, and have now won five straight against the Dash...This is the third series in the first two weeks of August between these teams, and tonight is the final regular season meeting between these two clubs...The 'Cats went 8-2 against the Dash at City Stadium, but are 4-5 at BB&T Ballpark...Twelve of the 18 meetings between these two clubs have been decided by two runs or less...Lynchburg is 8-4 in those games...

MAKING A MAD DASH: Last night's win gave the Hillcats their second five-game winning streak in the last three weeks...They are 13-5 in their last 18 games...Prior to the current winning streak the Hillcats were four games out of first place, but now they are just a half-game behind Potomac, who got swept in a doubleheader last night...The longest Hillcats winning streak is six games this season, from May 25 -30 ...That streak also included Winston-Salem...The 'Cats won two games against the Dash, swept Frederick in three games, and won one more game in Winston-Salem before the Dash snapped the streak...It was the only winning streak of more than three games in the first half for Lynchburg...

IS IT DUSTY AGAIN ALREADY: Tonight the Hillcats have a chance to complete a second consecutive sweep for the first time since 2005...The 'Cats went on an eight-game winning streak from June 23 - July 3 in 2005...The back-to-back sweeps came on opposite ends of the All-Star Break as the Hillcats won the final three games at home against Myrtle Beach in the first half and then swept three in Wilmington to begin the second half...This season the Hillcats have four total sweeps (Frederick (2), Wilmington, and Winston-Salem)...The Dash are the only Southern Division to be swept by the Hillcats an the only Southern team the 'Cats have a winning record against...

DEUCES UP: 3B Kevin Ahrens went 3-for-5 last night with a double and an RBI...He leads all active Carolina League players with 35 doubles this season and is tied with OF Jason Coats, who was just promoted to Double-A from Winston-Salem on Monday ...His previous career-high in doubles was 25, which he set way back in 2008 with Low-A Lansing (Blue Jays) in the Midwest League...He also leads the Hillcats in RBIs (55)...His .333 batting average with runners in scoring position and two outs is only lower than the .400 clip INF Emerson Landoni claims...During this five-game winning streak against the Dash, he is batting .409 (9-for-22) with three doubles, a home run, six RBIs, and three runs scored...

FEIGL ON FIRE: LHP Brady Feigl threw 3.2 scoreless innings of relief last night while striking out a career-high six batters, allowing one hit, and walking no one...The Severn, MD native now owns a 0.69 ERA through eight appearances with the Hillcats...He allowed one earned run in his first outing with Lynchburg back on July 16...Since then, he has thrown 12 consecutive scoreless innings...Has only walked two and struck out 14 in 13 total innings and has only surrendered eight hits...Opponents are batting just .182 against him, and lefties are batting .056 (1-for-18)...Feigl signed a free agent contract with the Braves this past offseason after going undrafted out of Mount Saint Mary's University in Maryland...

CRUNCH TIME 'CATS: The Hillcats improved to 8-4 when tied after eight innings this season...That's the best such record in the Carolina League...They are also 7-1 in extra innings this season, which is a league-best mark as well...Last night, DH Jose Martinez delivered the game-winning RBI single in the top of the ninth...It was the 15th time this season the 'Cats have scored the winning run in their final team at-bat...

THE STOPPER: RHP Alex Wilson earned his 15th save in 15 chances Saturday night...He leads all active players in the league in saves, and ranks second overall to RHP Mark Peterson, who is now in Double-A...Wilson has allowed just one run over his last 20 appearances, spanning 26 innings...His ERA has dropped from 2.87 to 1.73...He ranks fourth amongst league relievers with a .204 batting average against and leads all relievers with a 8.95 baserunners per nine innings ratio...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Brandon Brennan was selected in the fourth round of the 2012 draft by the Chicago White Sox out of Orange Coast College (CA)...Was originally drafted in the 40th round in 2010 out of Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, CA by the Colorado Rockies but elected to attend the University of Oregon...After red-shirting his freshman season, he transferred to Orange Coast where he went 11-1 with a 1.25 ERA in 15 games, 14 starts as a freshman...He struck out 72 and walked 23 over 108.1 innings...Helped lead his high school team to a 2009 South Coast League title and CIF Championship...Also started at quarterback in high school...Made professional debut with Rookie-level Great Falls in 2012...Went 3-2 with a 4.34 ERA in 14 appearances, seven starts...Broke camp with Low-A Kannapolis in 2013, but only made 15 starts before an injury ended his season at the end of June...Went 4-9 with a 5.53 ERA...This year, he went 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA in five starts for Great Falls, and 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA in three start for Kannapolis...Tonight is his third Advanced-A start and third against Lynchburg...He has allowed three runs on 10 hits over 10 innings while walking five and striking out eight in his first two starts...

Check out the Hill City Howlers Statistics

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



Carolina League Stories from August 14, 2014


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