Hillcats Game Notes May 24, 2015, 2 P.M vs. Frederick
May 24, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (19-24) vs. FREDERICK KEYS (23-20)
Sunday, May 24, 2015 -- 2 p.m.
Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium
RHP Michael Peoples (3-3, 6.55) vs. RHP David Hess (2-2, 4.99)
LAST TIME OUT: In front of a season-high 4.666 fans at City Stadium, home runs from C ERIC HAASE and DH LUIGI RODRIGUEZ in the seventh vaulted the Hillcats to a 5-3 win over the Frederick Keys last night...RHP DACE KIME made his third start at the high-A level and went five innings, allowing just one run in a no-decision...The Hillcats took the lead in the first with an RBI double off the left field wall from 1B NELLIE RODRIGUEZ, scoring CF BRADLEY ZIMMER to give Lynchburg a lead...Frederick tied things up in the fourth when RF BRENDEN WEBB singled to center, stole second, and scored on a single from C AUSTIN WYNNS...The 'Cats regained a one-run lead in the sixth...HAASE was hit by a pitch and advanced from first to third on a hit-and-run to left field by 2B JOE SEVER...HAASE came home on an RBI fielder's choice by LF MIKE PAPI for a 2-1 Hillcats margin...Lynchburg used the long ball in the seventh to push the lead to four...LUIGI RODRIGUEZ led off the frame with a big fly to right to make it 3-1, and HAASE added a two-run blast to left push the difference to 5-1...Frederick scored twice in the eighth to close the gap to two, but RHP BEN HELLER completed a four-out save to close out the 5-3 win...
VS. FREDERICK: Lynchburg and Frederick will play a total of 23 times this year...So far, the Keys hold a 6-5 record against Lynchburg, but the Hillcats have claimed each of the past two series...In the first six games, there was only one home run between the two teams, but in the last five contests the two sides have combined for 10 homers...OF LUIGI RODRIGUEZ has a team-best .400 average against the Keys with two double, a home run, three RBIs and seven runs scored while INF JOE SEVER has posted a .394 clip with four doubles, two home runs, and eight RBIs in nine games...INF DREW DOSCH has a team-high nine RBIs in 10 games and has scored eight times for Frederick...OF TUCKER NATHANS has a .385 average for the season series with a home run, five RBIs and five runs...
IT'S A ME, LUIGI! DH LUIGI RODRIGUEZ belted a solo home run to right field last night to give him seven homers this year, one behind OF BRADLEY ZIMMER, who hit his league-best eighth home run of the year Friday night...RODRIGUEZ appears in numerous places on the league leaderboard, including second in slugging percentage (.536), fifth in RBIs (25), fifth in stolen bases (10), and seventh in batting average (.297)...
LOAD 'EM UP: Lynchburg has loaded the bases frequently this season and cashed in better than anyone else in the league once they are...The 'Cats have 46 plate appearances this year with the bases loaded, which is second-most in the Carolina League (Myrtle Beach, 53)...Lynchburg is batting .317 with the bases loaded, which is 42 points better than the next-best team (Myrtle Beach, .275)...The only thing missing from the Hillcats resume this season is a grand slam...Lynchburg's last grand slam came from Robby Hefflinger on June 24, 2013...
RIDING SOLO: As a team, Lynchburg leads the Carolina League with 32 home runs, but 22 of them have been solo...Amazingly enough, Lynchburg's 22 solo home runs are more than any other team in the Carolina League has for total home runs this year... Of the other 10 deep flies, nine have been two-run homers...Only one home run by the Hillcats this year has come with more than one man on base, a three-run homer by OF LUIGI RODRIGUEZ off of RHP LUCAS SIMS on April 28...OF BRADLEY ZIMMER exemplifies the team trend the best, as all eight of ZIMMER'S home runs have been solo shots...
ZIMMERING HOT: OF BRADLEY ZIMMER has been on base at least twice in each of the past eight games, which includes five multi-hit performances...The No. 2 prospect in the Indians organization is 14-for-27 (.519) during this stretch with three home runs...ZIMMER scored three of Lynchburg's four runs Friday night, becoming the first Hillcat to score three times in a game this year...ZIMMER leads the Carolina League in home runs (8) and runs scored (34)...He also ranks third in slugging percentage (.536), on-base percentage (.412), walks (22), and stolen bases (19), and fourth in batting average (.312)...
HOME, SWEET HOME: Even though the Hillcats had 23 runs and 30 hits in three games at LewisGale Field this week, Lynchburg still possesses much stronger numbers at City Stadium...The Hillcats have a team batting average of .261 at home compared to .227, which is 34 points better...The numbers are even more drastic with slugging percentage (.405 vs. .363) and on-base percentage (.342 vs. .294)...The 'Cats average 5.2 runs per game at Calvin Falwell Field and 3.8 runs per game elsewhere...Lynchburg has more doubles and home runs at City Stadium despite playing one fewer game at home so far...
SLUG IT OUT: Despite a .244 batting average that ranks in the bottom half of the league, Lynchburg leads the Carolina League in a wide range of offensive categories, including runs scored (192), RBIs (176), home runs (32), total bases (539), hit by pitch (23), stolen base success rate (81.5 percent) and slugging percentage (.384)...The 'Cats also rank second with 75 doubles and third with 13 triples...
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Carolina League Stories from May 24, 2015
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