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Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes September 3, 2015, 6:30 p.m. vs Salem

September 3, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (37-28, 70-65) vs SALEM RED SOX (24-40, 62-72)

Thursday, September 3, 2015 - 6:30 P.M.

Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium

RHP Michael Peoples (11-3, 3.50) vs. LHP Daniel McGrath (3-6, 3.86)

LAST TIME OUT: Lynchburg committed four errors and Salem scored in four straight innings as the Red Sox ran away with a 7-2 win over the Hillcats on Wednesday night...MIKE PAPI cranked a home run over the right field wall with two outs in the bottom of the second inning that gave the Hillcats an early 1-0 lead...Salem tied the game on a RBI double by WENDELL RIJO in the top of the fourth inning that scored MAURICIO DUBON...In the top of the fifth, Salem plated two runs as each of the first four batters reached base on three hits and a walk...DUBON and RIJO singled as RIJO picked up his second RBI of the game to make it 2-1 Red Sox...KEVIN HELLER doubled in the next at-bat, and RIJO was able to score from first following a throwing error by IVAN CASTILLO to put Salem ahead 3-1...In the sixth, ZACH KAPSTEIN reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a throwing error by PERCI GARNER and scored on a RBI single by DEINER LOPEZ to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead...The Hillcats plated a run in the bottom of the sixth, but KEVIN HELLER singled in the seventh and scored on a RBI double by MARIO MARTINEZ to make it 5-2 Red Sox...MIKE MEYERS reached on a fielding error by PAUL HENDRIX, stole second base, and advanced to third on a base hit by PROCYSHEN that scored MARTINEZ and extended the lead to 6-2...KAPSTEIN roped a RBI single down the third base line that scored MEYERS and put the Red Sox up five, 7-2...Hillcats pitcher DACE KIME was seeking his third straight quality start, but he lasted only five innings and allowed three runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out six.

VS. SALEM: Lynchburg is 15-10 against Salem this season, and although the Hillcats are 11-2 against the Red Sox on the road at LewisGale Field, they are only 4-8 against them at City Stadium...Lynchburg has outscored Salem 137-94 in head-to-head matchups this season...In 25 contests against the Red Sox, the Hillcats are hitting .275 as a team and have collected 17 home runs and 130 RBIs...In the season series, the road team has recorded an unbelievable 19-6 record...Today marks the 26th and final installment of the 460 series this year with 19 of the meetings coming in the second half...DORSSYS PAULINO leads all Hillcats against the Red Sox with a .378 average and has appeared in 11 games...CLINT FRAZIER has hit three home runs and has 15 RBIs to complement the 21 runs he has scored in 24 of the 25 games against the Red Sox.

MERRY CLINCH-MAS!: Although the Hillcats dropped a 6-5 decision to Salem last night, the Frederick Keys lost at home to the Carolina Mudcats to give the Hillcats a seven game lead over the Frederick Keys, with six games to play, sending the Hillcats to the postseason...The playoff berth marks the fourth straight season the Hillcats have made it to the postseason and the first time the franchise has appeared in four straight postseasons since the Lynchburg Mets accomplished the feat from 1982 to 1985 in which they won two championships ('83-'84)...The Hillcats last won the Mills Cup in 2012, just three seasons ago...With a victory on Saturday night, Lynchburg reached 70 wins in a season for the first time since the 2012 campaign when the team last won the Carolina League championship.

ISON FINDS HIS STRIDE: Hillcats outfielder BOBBY ISON struggled through his first five games as a Hillcat as he went just 1-for-15 (.067), but he seems to have dialed in his swing at the Advanced-A level...ISON is currently riding a four-game hit streak where his has gone 7-for-17 with a triple, a double, two RBIs, and a pair of runs scored...ISON has recorded an RBI in four of his last six games and has tallied three multi-hit games during that stretch while going 9-for-23 (.391)...ISON has recorded four multi-hit games in his last seven games as well.

FEAR THE SPEER: Newcomer DAVID SPEER joined the Hillcats on August 21 and picked up right where he left off in Lake County...Since joining the Hillcats, SPEER has pitched three innings and has not allowed an earned run over his last 17 appearances spanning 22 2/3 innings dating back to his time in Lake County...During that time, he has struck out 20 and walked just seven...Over the last 13 contests, the Hillcats bullpen has surrendered just one run over 33 1/3 innings pitched.

CHOOSING SIDES: When Hillcats closer BEN HELLER was promoted to Double-A Akron, GRANT SIDES found himself in the closer role for the team down the final stretch of the season, and he seems to have fit into the role perfectly...Over his last 15 appearances, SIDES has picked up six saves in seven opportunities while tossing 19 1/3 innings...SIDES has allowed just one earned run on 12 hits during that span while striking out 24 batters and walking just six...Over his last 15 appearances, SIDES has posted an ERA of just 0.47.

J.P ON FIRE-EISEN: Hillcats reliever J.P. FEYEREISEN led Lake County with 10 saves before being called up to Lynchburg in early June and has been primarily a middle to late reliever for the Hillcats...After a rough outing against Winston-Salem on August 1 where he pitched just 2/3 of an inning and allowed three runs on one hit while walking four to see his ERA jump to a 4.19 mark, FEYEREISEN has been dialed in...Over his last nine starts, FEYEREISEN has not allowed a run and has allowed just five hits over eight innings while surrendering one walk and striking out eight batters...Since that fateful outing against Winston-Salem, FEYEREISEN'S ERA has dropped from 4.19 all the way down to 2.96.

FREQUENTLY CLOSE BUT NOT MANY CIGARS: Despite all of the fantastic bullpen notes just listed, Lynchburg has not fared well in close ballgames in 2015...The Hillcats have played 66 games decided by two runs or less, which is only three shy of the most in the league (Wilmington, 69), and the 'Cats are a league-worst 27-39 (.409) in those contests...After last night's 6-5 defeat, Lynchburg is 3-7 against Salem when the final margin is either one run or two...Additionally, Lynchburg is a mere 3-7 in its 10 extra-inning contests this year, which is the second-worst mark in the Carolina League (Winston-Salem, 1-7)...Conversely, the Hillcats own the best record on the circuit in games decided by more than three runs with a 34-17 (.667) mark.

IT USUALLY ESCALATES QUICKLY: In the final game of the series with Salem and the first two games against Carolina during the last road trip, the Hillcats posted innings of five runs, seven runs, and three runs for back-to-back-to-back comeback wins...This season, when the Hillcats score a run, 22 percent of the time, the team scores at least three runs in that inning...The Hillcats have scored a league-high 643 runs, which is 30 more than last season's Hillcats who scored 613...In comparison to last year's squad, when the 2014 unit scored in an inning, they went on to score three or more just 18 percent of the time...However, it has been a steady dose of scoring rather than a few big bursts that have fueled Lynchburg's 15-10 record against the other Red, White and Blue of the Carolina League...Lynchburg has scored in 61 of its 205 turns at the plate (30 percent) against the Red Sox, but the team has only posted three or more runs in an inning seven times, which is a mere 11 percent of the time the Hillcats dodge a goose egg in a frame.

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