NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Charleston Dirty Birds

WV Power Game Notes

September 12, 2015 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Northern Division Championship Series

West Virginia Power (1-1) at Hickory Crawdads (1-1)

Game 3 | September 12, 2015 | L.P. Frans Stadium | Hickory, NC

Radio: Charleston's ESPN 104.5 & 1490 - wvpower.com Airtime: 6:45 pm

GAME THREE MATCH-UP

RH Yeudy Garcia (12-5, 2.10) vs. RH Collin Wiles (11-3, 2.96)

THE LEADOFF: West Virginia dropped a 6-3 final at Hickory on Friday night in game two of the Northern Division Championship Series. The Crawdads opened the scoring with a run on three straight hits in the first, but West Virginia answered on a two-run home run by Connor Joe in the second for a 2-1 edge. Hickory tied the game on a RBI ground out in the third and took a 3-2 lead in the fourth. Kevin Kramer singled in Pablo Reyes in the fifth to tie the game at three, but Hickory scored once on two walks and a single in the sixth to regain the lead for good. The Crawdads added two runs in the eighth to seal the victory and force game three. Stephen Tarpley took the loss for the Power while Dillon Tate notched the win and Scott Williams worked two innings for the save. Hickory's Jose Trevino led all players with three hits and Kramer had West Virginia's only multi-hit game.

BEST OF THREE: West Virginia and Hickory close their playoff series tonight. The winner of game three advances to the South Atlantic League Championship Series and will host games one and two on Monday and Tuesday nights.

HOW WE GOT THERE: West Virginia secured its fourth appearance into the South Atlantic League playoffs after a franchise-best 50 wins in the second half. The Power finished the season with a franchise-record 87 wins, which were also the most in the entire South Atlantic League. West Virginia clinched a postseason berth on August 29 against the Lexington Legends and won the division outright the next day. Hickory won the first half with a 44-24 record, 7.5 games ahead of West Virginia, though the Crawdads finished 37-33 in the second half, 13 games behind the Power.

MOVING ON: Yuedy Garcia will start for West Virginia in game three against Hickory's Collin Wiles. Garcia went 1-1 against the Crawdads in the regular season over two starts despite not allowing an earned run over nine and two-thirds combined innings. Wiles did not pitch against the Power during any of the eight regular season meetings.

BACK-TO-BACK: West Virginia has not lost back-to-back games since July 10 and 11 at Greensboro.

POWER PLAYOFF HISTORY: This playoff run marks the fourth postseason appearance for the Power. The last time West Virginia made it to the playoffs was in 2013 when the Power were edged by Hagerstown in three games. However, in each of the first two appearances, West Virginia made it to the SAL Championship Series. West Virginia first made it to the championship series in 2007 after defeating the Crawdads in a best-of-three, but were swept by the Columbus Catfish (Rays) in the championship. The next season, West Virginia beat the Lake County Captains (Indians) in the first round, but were once against swept in the title series, that time by the Augusta GreenJackets.

ALL-STARS SHINE: West Virginia had two players named to the South Atlantic League's postseason all-star team. Yeudy Garcia was named the "Most Outstanding Pitcher" and "Best Right Handed Pitcher" while Power right fielder Michael Suchy was selected as an all-star outfielder. Garcia finished with a 2.10 ERA, the best in the South Atlantic League. Suchy concluded the season with a .275 batting average including ten home runs and a team-best 76 RBIs.

WHERE WE RANK: The Power rank among the league leaders in a host of offensive categories including hitting (.269, 1st), walks (494, 1st), strikeouts (864, 13th), stolen bases (181, 4th), and on-base percentage (.347, 1st). The Power pitching staff is also one of the best in the league in ERA (3.38, 4th), walks (350, 13th), strikeouts (1,016, 5th).

POWER POINTS: Connor Joe's home run Friday was his professional home run. The other was hit on July 31 at home against Lakewood... Taylor Gushue's home run Wednesday was his first since July 20 against Lexington... West Virginia finished the 2015 regular season with a .626 winning percentage, ranking as the third-best in all of Minor League Baseball among full season teams behind only Houston's Quad Cities (.638) and Corpus Christi (.636) teams...

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: Pittsburgh doubled up Milwaukee 6-3... Indianapolis beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4-2 to win their best-of-five series and advance to the championship round of the International League playoffs...Altoona lost 11-3 to Bowie and now trail 2-1 in their best-of-five series... The Black Bears lost 3-2 at Williamsport in game two of their best-of-three series. Game three was postponed and will be played Sunday at 5:05 pm.

ON THE AIR: West Virginia Power games can be heard on Charleston's ESPN 104.5 and 1490 in Charleston, online at wvpower.com and on the TuneIn Radio App.

Check out the Charleston Dirty Birds Statistics

• Discuss this story on the South Atlantic League message board...

South Atlantic League Stories from September 12, 2015


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