CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Dash Doubleheader Game Notes

Published on September 2, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (35-30, 67-68) vs. SALEM RED SOX (29-36, 60-74)

Friday, September 2, 2011, 6:05 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Games No. 136 & 137 | Home Games No. 70 & 71 | 2011 Home Record 38-31 | 2011 Road Record 29-37

Game One: RHP Ryan Buch (4-4, 4.70) vs. RHP Ryan Pressly (6-11, 4.58)

Game Two: RHP Andre Rienzo (6-5, 3.27) vs. LHP Chris Hernandez (10-7, 2.90)

Orange you glad you brought an umbrella': Severe weather left another Dash game in its Wake last night, as Winston-Salem and Salem were rained out. The teams will play a doubleheader at 6:05 tonight, the final home date of the 2011 regular season for the Dash. This will essentially be the fifth doubleheader for Winston in the last 23 days which is not necessarily a bad thing, as the Dash have gone 6-2 in the previous four twin bills. Tonight's first game will be televised on WXII's THIS Carolina (digital channel 121, over-the-air at 12-2) beginning at 6 p.m.

And down the stretch they come: Tonight the Dash play the last two home games of the regular season against the Salem Red Sox. With Winston idle last night and Kinston winning its third consecutive one-run game over Frederick, the Indians are now 0.5 games ahead in the race for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division. The Dash have five games remaining in the regular season (two against Salem and three at Lynchburg), as do the Indians (one at home against Frederick and four on the road versus Potomac). In order to make the playoffs, Winston's losses cannot exceed Kinston's (as they do now by one). If the teams finish with the same number of losses or if the Dash have fewer, Winston-Salem will make the playoff because Kinston will play one fewer game in the second half than the Indians because of weather-related reasons.

Most Likely to Succeed: Yesterday Ian Gac was named the Most Valuable Player in the Carolina League, the first time a Winston player has captured the league's highest honor since Leo Daigle won it in 2005. He became the eighth Winston-Salem player to be awarded the MVP/Player of the Year Award in the Carolina League, blowing away opposing hurlers with a monstrous offensive season (see note below). He was also named to the postseason All-Star team as the DH while teammate Andy Wilkins earned the utility infield spot on the team. Both players have been highly valuable to the Dash this season, especially when they go deep. Winston-Salem is 21-9 (.700) when Gac homers and just 46-59 (.438) when he does not. Sixteen of Gac's 33 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. The Dash are 12-6 (.667) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run and have won 12 of the last 14 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

Matching the Jersey Number: A bit lost in the big night for both offenses was that Ian Gac smoked his 33rd home run of the season to cap a six-run second inning for Winston-Salem. The blast, the 160th of his pro career, set a new single-season career-high for the slugger, surpassing the 32 home runs he hit in 2008 for Bakersfield (Rangers Cal League). Gac has now hit more home runs in a Carolina League season than any player since 1997 when Kinston's Daniel Peoples hit 34. If he hits two more home runs in the remaining five games, he will tie the Winston-Salem record (Joe Olivares hit 35 in 1960) and have hit the most homers in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is tied for second in all of minor league baseball in round-trippers. Gac has 12 more home runs than any other player in the CL and his 93 RBI are nine more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (135, the only player in the league that has played every game), second in at bats (500), eighth in batting average (.280), second in hits (140), tied for fourth in doubles (30), first in slugging percentage (.542), second in extra-base hits (64), first in runs scored (90), first in total bases (271), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/15.15).

Getting Poor Marks: Wednesday was a rough night to be 60 feet, six inches from home plate on Wednesday, but especially so for Winston's hurlers. The Dash set a new season-high, allowing 16 runs to score and they tied high water marks for the season with 19 hits allowed and six hits surrendered in the third inning. In the previous nine games, Winston had allowed 18 total runs before giving up 16 alone last night. The bullpen's run of 21.2 innings without allowing an earned run ended when the Red Sox scored three times off Leroy Hunt in the fifth. Salem's performance last night was historic, as its 16 runs tied the most Salem has ever scored in a game at Winston-Salem, matching the Salem Buccaneers' 16-2 victory over the Spirits at Ernie Shore Field on June 25, 1987. Salem also tied the most hits it has ever had in Winston with 19 (the Buccaneers had 19 hits twice in 1991 at Winston-Salem).

Son of a Blanke: Mike Blanke went deep twice Wednesday night for his first career multi-home run game. Blanke gave the Dash a 2-1 lead with his solo home run to start the second inning and narrowed the final margin to six with his two-run blast in the ninth. Prior to that second home run, all of six of his previous Carolina League dingers were solo shots. Last night's game continued a strong stretch of play offensively for the Canadian-born Floridian. The Dash catcher has hit .345 (20 for 58) in his last 17 games with three doubles, five home runs, 11 RBI, and seven runs scored. He has posted an OPS of 1.016 during this stretch (.361 OBP with 22 for 61 reaching base and .655 SLG).

The Hit Doctor is on-Coll once again: Kyle Colligan has recently shown signs of life lately after a mostly difficult 2011 season. Over his last eight games, Colligan is batting .346 (9 for 26) with three doubles, one homer, five RBI, and nine runs scored. He has 14 walks in his last 15 games and has posted an on-base percentage of .455 (25 times reached base in 55 plate appearances).

Home Field Advantage: A crowd of 5,872 took in Sunday's 8-2 victory over the Pelicans at BB&T Ballpark, the second-biggest Sunday crowd in two seasons at the home of the Dash. It was the 21st sellout of the season, two more than last year's total of 19. Over the three-game weekend series, the Dash drew 19,863 fans (average crowd of 6,621), the highest three-day attendance total in BB&T Ballpark history. Winston-Salem leads the Carolina League and all Advanced-A baseball teams in both total and average attendance for the second straight season. The 2011 total attendance is 305,209 through 66 home openings for an average crowd of 4,624.

‚¬ËœMaul Rat: Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He pitched another scoreless inning on Sunday night to finish off the Pelicans. He has allowed four runs (two earned) on ten hits in his last 22 appearances, sporting a 0.57 ERA (2 ER, 31.2 IP) with a .113 batting average against (12 for 106) and 56 strikeouts (seven walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.06 strikeouts per nine innings, more than two full K's than second-place Eliecer Cardenas (11.96). He is second among all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (88) despite only ranking eighth among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (56.1). He is also second among CL relievers with a .162 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.47).

Today's Game One Opposing Starter: RHP Ryan Pressly (6-11, 4.58) makes his 26th start of the season for the Red Sox and third against the Dash this season. He is 1-1 against Winston-Salem with a 2.61 ERA, allowing eight runs (three earned) on ten hits in 10.1 innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Pressly has lost his last two outings, surrendering 12 runs in ten innings in back-to-back starts against Wilmington. He has not gotten the win in his last six starts, marking the fifth time this season he has gone at least five starts without getting a win. Pressly was originally drafted in the 11th round of the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Marcus High School in Texas. He spent his first two years in the organization in short-season ball with the GCL Red Sox and then the Lowell Spinners. In 2010, he made 26 appearances (24 starts) for low-A Greenville and went 5-7 with a 3.72 ERA. With the drive, he held opponents to three runs or fewer in 22 of his 24 starts and was seventh among Red Sox minor leaguers in ERA.

Today's Game Two Opposing Starter: LHP Chris Hernandez (10-7, 2.90) makes 25th start of the season and fourth against the Dash. After winning his first two starts against Winston, he was rocked for six runs in 2.1 innings his last time out against the Dash. A Carolina League All-Star, Hernandez has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all but three of his starts this season. During a seven-start stretch from early July to early August, he did not allow any more than one earned run and posted a 0.98 ERA. Hernandez was drafted in the seventh round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Red Sox and made one appearance for Rookie Lowell. For the Spinners, he threw two innings and gave up one run on three hits. He previously pitched at the University of Miami for three years and compiled a 28-8 record in his time with the Hurricanes. Hernandez was the 2008 ACC Freshman of the Year after garnering a Miami freshman-best 11 wins. That season he was also named First Team All-ACC, an accomplishment that he matched in 2010 before getting drafted. In his last season with Miami he went 10-3 with a 2.64 ERA. His repertoire includes a four-seam fastball that sits 88-89 mph and a cutter that he can throw 83-85. He also throws a changeup and curveball.

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Carolina League Stories from September 2, 2011


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