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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Game Notes: July 30, 2014

July 30, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


THRICE AND NOT AS NICE: Glenn Sparkman's dominant seven-inning performance was not enough for the Wilmington Blue Rocks as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Lynchburg Hillcats on Tuesday night at City Stadium. The loss was the Rocks' third straight and it left the Blue Crew at 18-18 in the second half and 51-53 overall. Wilmington now sits one game behind Lynchburg and in third place in the CL North standings.

SPARKMAN SPARKLES IN NO-DECISION: Glenn Sparkman gave up only two runs across seven strong innings for the Blue Rocks. He fanned seven, yielded five hits and did not walk a batter. Sparkman left the game with the Blue Rocks trailing, 2-0, but took a no-decision when they tied the contest in the top of the eighth. On the season, Sparkman is 6-2 with a sparkling 1.44 ERA, which places him atop the Carolina League leaderboard. The 6-foot-2 hurler has given up 67 hits and 17 walks while striking out 81 in 87.1 innings pitched. Righties are batting just .230 against Sparkman while lefties are hitting a mere .185 against him. Sparkman began the campaign in the bullpen and was excellent there. He went 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 11 relief appearances while striking out 27 and walking seven in 23.2 innings pitched. After getting shifted to the starting rotation, Sparkman has been even better. As a starter, he is 4-1 with a 1.13 ERA in 12 outings. He has fanned 54 and issued 10 bases on balls in 63.2 innings pitched as a starter.

JOLTIN' JACK LOPEZ: After a 2-for-4 performance on Tuesday, Jack Lopez now has hits in eight of his last 10 games. Over that stretch, he is batting .298 (14-for-47) with four doubles and five runs scored. That includes back-to-back two-hit performances. Lopez is batting .313 against Lynchburg in 2014 and is the only Blue Rock this year (with at least 15 at-bats) to hit over .260 against the Hillcats. Lopez also has three runs, four doubles, four steals and six RBIs in 13 games against Lynchburg this year. Overall in 2014, the right-handed hitting infielder is batting .222 with 28 runs, 18 doubles, one homer and 20 RBIs in 90 games.

EVANS NEEDS AN ELIXIR: Zane Evans went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Hillcats. The Georgia Tech product is mired in a 3-for-29 slump at the plate over his last eight games. Evans has struck out 10 times over that stretch. It has been a rough month of July, as well for Evans, who is hitting only .149 with five runs, a homer and four RBIs since the calendar flipped over from June. He is also struggling against the Hillcats, going just 5-for-34 with 13 strikeouts versus Lynchburg in 2014.

OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES RETURN: Wilmington's struggles with the Lynchburg Hillcats continued with Tuesday evening's 4-2 loss at City Stadium. The Blue Crew have now lost six out of the last seven meetings between the two clubs. Overall, the Rocks are 6-12 against Lynchburg this year. Wilmington owns a scant .204 batting average against the Hillcats and a 4.08 team ERA. Conversely, the Hillcats are batting .257 against Wilmington and have posted a 2.78 team ERA. Earlier in the second half, the Rocks had gone 21.1 consecutive innings without a base hit and 14 straight frames without a run. The Rocks became the first professional baseball team since 1972 to get no-hit in consecutive nine-inning games when the Hillcats turned in back-to-back no-nos at Frawley Stadium, June 25-26.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "It boils down to execution. You've got to be able to execute this late in the season. We've got to be able to execute. We hit .220 as a team. We know that, so our execution has to be outstanding...Jack Lopez had a big hit to tie the ballgame and give us a chance to win the ballgame, but we didn't come through...[Glenn] Sparkman threw a great ballgame. Probably the best game I've seen him be able to locate with all of his pitches, time and time again for seven innings. He had a low pitch count and could have went out for the eighth inning. My hat's off to him. I'm glad he got a no-decision [after leaving the game trailing, 2-0]...[Lopez] has swung the bat much better and stayed within himself. He'd gotten out of himself and tried to do too much. I think he's in a good place right now with his approach and it's paying off...Andrew Edwards threw the ball fine. He got first and second and a left-hander was coming up. Looking at the stats, the guy is hitting .170 against left-handers. In that situation, tie ballgame, I'm going to go to the lefty. Stumpf made three great pitches to get the lefty out and then got two strikes on Martinez, but Martinez is a veteran guy. I talked to [Cam] Gallagher after the game. He's a veteran guy, he's played Double-A, he's played a ton of winter ball. I know him from my years in winter ball. The guy has been in those types of situations before. He was sitting on a breaking ball, no doubt about it. You could tell by the swings on the fastball there with two strikes. Gallagher and I talked about it and that's part of learning as a catcher. That's the development of Gallagher and talking to him after to learn from that...I'll tell you. It has been crazy. We play real good against Carolina and...Lynchburg just seems to find a way to beat us. And then, Carolina beats Lynchburg pretty easy. It's a crazy game. That's the way it is. We've got two games left against these guys. We've got to do something. We've got to be able to win a ballgame, win two ballgames. Lynchburg is a team we've got to beat in the standings, bottom line. Potomac, if they win the second half, it's between us and Lynchburg and Frederick is not far behind. We've got our work cut out."

Today's Starters

WIL: LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (5-5, 2.46)

vs.

LYN: RHP Jarrett Miller (7-6, 3.76)

Lefty Jonathan Dziedzic has been one of Wilmington's best starting pitchers in 2014. The southpaw takes the mound on Wednesday for his 19th start of the campaign and will look to pick up his sixth win. Dziedzic has struck out 85 batters in 95 innings pitched this season while delivering a 2.46 ERA and a 5-5 record. His ERA ranks third in the Carolina League. The crafty lefty has been better within the pitcher-friendly confines of Frawley Stadium than on the road. He is 3-3 with a miniscule 1.57 ERA in eight starts at home and 2-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 outings on the road. Left- handed hitters are batting .275 against Dziedzic, while righties are hitting .240. Those spectacular overall numbers earned Dziedzic a spot on the 2014 Carolina League All-Star Team. His most recent start came on July 25 at Frawley Stadium against the Winston- Salem Dash. Dziedzic hurled five scoreless innings and allowed only one hit and one walk. In his start prior to that, on July 18 at Pfitzner Stadium against the Potomac Nationals, Dziedzic turned in his best start of the year. He tossed seven shutout frames while yielding just four hits and one walk. He also struck out three that night. Dziedzic, who is Lamar University's all-time strikeouts leader, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th Round of the 2013 Draft. He was also taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 37th round of the 2012 Draft, but elected to return to school. As a high school senior, Dziedzic threw a no-hitter.

The Atlanta Braves selected righty Jarrett Miller in the 21st round of the 2011 draft out of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The 6-foot-1 righty has amassed a career 24-18 record and 3.73 ERA in 87 appearances (53 starts). He made his pro debut in 2011 with Rookie-Level Danville in the Appalachian League With Danville, Miller posted a 3-0 record and a 2.21 ERA in 11 relief appearances before a promotion to Low-A Rome. He was 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA in eight relief appearances at Rome. Miller returned to Low-A Rome for the entire 2012 season and went 5-3 with a 4.11 ERA in 16 appearances, including his first seven pro starts. The righty moved up to Advanced-A Lynchburg for the 2013 season and posted a 9-8 record and a 3.73 ERA in 30 games (25 starts). Miller returned to Lynchburg for the 2014 season and has had an up-and-down year. He is 7-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 22 games (21 starts). Lefties are crushing him to the tune of a .289 average, while righties are hitting .237 off of him. Miller has faced the Blue Rocks four times this year and has a combined 2-2 record and 3.00 ERA against them. Miller's best outing of the campaign came on May 10 against the Blue Crew at Frawley Stadium. He hurled seven shutout innings and yielded just three hits while fanning 12.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics



Carolina League Stories from July 30, 2014


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