Hillcats vs. Blue Rocks - Game Notes - August 14, 2013
August 14, 2013 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
THE HILLCATS: Won their fourth game in a row last night completing a three-game sweep of the Winston-Salem Dash with a 6-4 victory...The lead changed hands three times last night in the first four innings...The Hillcats initially erased a 1-0 deficit to go up 3-1...Then, the Blue Rocks took a 4-3 advantage in the top of the fourth before the Hillcats went right back on top 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of two wild pitches...RHP Wilson Rivera (6-0) threw three scoreless innings of relief and earned the win...RHP John Cornely tossed a perfect ninth inning recording his fifth save of the season...1B Trent Moses went 1-for-3 with an RBI-triple and a run scored and 2B Daniel Castro went 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base...The Cats are now 21-26 leading the wild card playoff standings just a half game on top of the Wilmington Blue Rocks...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 7-10 against the Blue Rocks this season...The Cats are 3-4 against Wilmington in Lynchburg...These two clubs split their first six meetings in the first half 3-3, but in the second half the Hillcats are 4-7, not winning a series against the Rocks since their first meeting May 3-5 in Lynchburg...Both teams have pitched well in this series as Lynchburg holds a 3.52 ERA and Wilmington a 3.15 ERA, however, defense has been suspect...The Hillcats have committed 24 errors to the Blue Rocks' 23 errors in 17 meetings this season...
STRIVE FOR FIVE: The Hillcats seek their fifth straight win tonight...They have won four in a row four times this season but never five...They have been outscored 24-7, getting shut out once in their four previous attempts...They came closest to a five-game streak in their most recent try...They lost to the Salem Red Sox 5-4 in 11 innings...Three of the four starters the Hillcats have faced in these games have since been called up to Double-A, with the only exception being the most recent Salem starter RHP Kyle Stroup...
PERSONAL BEST: OF Matt Lipka's three stolen bases Sunday night set a new career-high for the fourth-year pro...A former All-State wide receiver in Texas, Lipka drafted out of high school as a shortstop...His average arm strength but plus-plus speed motivated a move to centerfield prior to the 2012 season...He has stolen 87 bases in his career, but never more than two in a single game...2013 is his third season with 20 or more steals...He was limited to just 51 games in 2012 due to a hamstring injury...At 27 swipes this year, he is one shy of his career-best for a single season, as he stole 28 bases with Low-A Rome in 2011...
ROHM'S AUGUSTUS: OF David Rohm went 1-for-4 last night with an RBI-single...He is now on a five game hitting streak, batting .474 (9-for-19) with a double, triple, six RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base during this streak...In August, he has hits in 10 of 12 games, batting a team-best .370...He has two doubles, three triples, nine RBI, and four runs scored this month...Now batting .298, he is tied for eighth-best in the Carolina League...He also ranks fourth in hits (123), seventh in doubles (28) and second in triples (7)...In 2011, he led all the Braves organization with eight triples...This year he only trails Low-A Rome OF Felix Marte who has eight triples...
WILD STAFF: Hillcats pitching combined to walk five more batters last night bringing their season total to 471...That leads the league, despite the Cats having pitched in a league-low 1003.2 innings...Every other teams has pitched at least 30 more innings this season...RHP A.J. Holland also hit two more batters last night bringing his personal league-leading total to 16...The team total is now 71, which ranks second hights to the 74 bean balls thrown by Blue Rocks pitchers this season...
QUALITY AND QUANTITY: LHP Ryan Hinson collected his sixth quality start Monday night (6ip, 1er) for the Hillcats in six total starts since joining the club...He still just 2-2 as he hasn't been backed up by much run support...In fact his support is a team-low 3.00 runs per game...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Sam Selman was selected in the second round of the 2012 draft by the Royals out of Vanderbilt University...The Austin, TX native got drafted out of high school in the fourth round by the Angels but elected to go to college...Was an ABCA/Rawlings All-American his senior year of high school...Helped the commodores reach the College World Series in 2011 with current Hillcat pitcher Navery Moore...Went 9-3 with a 3.55 ERA, earning All-SEC honors that year...Led the team in wins and strikeouts (80)...Made his professional debut in 2012 with Short-season Idaho Falls after signing late in 2011 for $750,000...Went 5-4 with a 2.09 ERA...Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year, Pioneer League All-Star, and Idaho Falls Pitcher of the Year...Led the league in strikeouts (89) and finished one inning short of qualifying for the league's best ERA...Entered 2013 as the sixth rated prospect in the Royals system according to Baseball America...First full season breaking camp with the Blue Rocks...He is 2-0 against the Hillcats in three starts, allowing just one run in 17.1 innings...He has struck out 15 and walked 12, while allowing just five hits...He beat the Hillcats last Thursday allowing just one run in five innings on one hit...He walked six and struck out five...
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Carolina League Stories from August 14, 2013
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- Hillcats vs. Blue Rocks - Game Notes - August 14, 2013 - Lynchburg Hillcats
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- Dash vs. Salem Sox - Game Notes - August 14, 2013 - Winston-Salem Dash
- Salem Sox vs. Dash - Game Notes - August 14, 2013 - Salem Red Sox
- Blue Rocks Win 18-Inning Marathon - Wilmington Blue Rocks
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