CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Dash Versus The Pelicans

Published on June 7, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


One day before Prince's 52nd birthday, the Dash celebrated its second straight walk-off win over the Kinston Indians, the team's second in 20 hours. Winston won 4-3 when Eduardo Escobar hit a grounder through a drawn-in infield to score Drew Garcia in the tenth inning on Sunday. The teams traded slim leads before Kinston tied the game at three in the sixth. It stayed that way until the bottom of the tenth, when the first two reached and moved into scoring position with one out ahead of Escobar's game-winner. The Dash won the night before when Justin Greene hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the ninth to send Winston to a 6-5 comeback, walk-off win. Joe McEwing's team swept the four-game series with the K-Tribe and essentially ended Kinston's faint hopes of a first half title.

Saw too much of you last time: The Dash and Myrtle Beach Pelicans hook up tonight for the first time since their memorable series in Winston-Salem last month. That four-game set featured a day-night doubleheader and 29 innings of baseball on May 19. Monday will be a doubleheader at BB&T Coastal Field, the Pelicans' home ballpark. The final game of the Myrtle Beach Regional of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship will be played at 1 p.m. between top seed Coastal Carolina and second-seeded College of Charleston. The winner will play South Carolina in the Super Regional. Following the college game, the sound of metal pings will be replaced by wooden cracks and the professionals will take over.

Esco's A Go: Eduardo Escobar 2 RBI-day on Sunday continued a hot stretch for the Venezuelan shortstop. Escobar now has a season-best six game hit-streak, during which he's batting .423 (11-26). He also scored five runs during the series with Kinston. The shortstop entered the season rated by Baseball America as the White Sox' best defensive infielder and he has not disappointed. While regularly displaying a plus arm, Escobar owns the best fielding percentage of any shortstop in the Carolina League (.968).

My final offer is this: Nothing: After throwing four more scoreless innings on Sunday, the Dash bullpen has now gone nine consecutive innings without giving up a run. Winston's relievers were lights out in the Kinston series, posting a 0.64 ERA (1 ER, 14 IP) in the four-game set.

The Nine: Winston-Salem is in control of the race for a Southern Division title with the first half winding down. The Dash owns a five-game lead over Salem with 13 games to play. The team's magic number stands at nine. Any combination of nine Dash wins and Red Sox losses will give Winston the first half crown and a playoff spot.

Stinging Seth-sation: Seth Loman was hit by another pitch on Sunday, marking the third time in the Kinston series the first baseman was drilled. Loman has now been hit by a pitch 20 times this season. He needs to be hit just four more times to tie the league record of 24, the mark former Winston-Salem Spirit Rusty Crockett set in 1989. If Loman stays in the Carolina League all season and keeps up his current pace, he would demolish the record by getting hit by a pitch 49 times.

Best Record Watch: At 38-19, the Dash is tied for the best record in all of professional baseball. The low-A Lake County Captains and High-A Lake Elsinore Storm share that the title of top mark with Winston-Salem. The Dash's .667 winning percentage is tied not only with those two other minor league teams, but also the Mexican League-best Pericos de Puebla (46-23 record) for the best record in North American professional baseball. Winston-Salem's home record (20-6) is the second-best of any minor league team, behind only the Midwest League's Cedar Rapids Kernels (18-4).

Let ‘Er Rip: The Dash's season batting average of .299 is still the second-best of any team in professional affiliated baseball. The AAA Albuquerque Isotopes (.308) are the only team with a higher average. Winston's average is the best in the Carolina League by 30 points (Lynchburg is the closest with a .269 average). Winston has five players in the top ten in the league in batting average: Brandon Short (4th, .333), Jon Gilmore (5th, .331), Justin Greene (7th, .323), Drew Garcia (8th, .312), and Ozzie Lewis (10th, .303). The Dash has scored the most runs in all of affiliated baseball with 343 (60 more than Frederick, the next-closest Carolina League team).

Passenger 57: Justin Greene is the only player in the Carolina League who has played in every game this season. He has started all 57 Dash games in 2010.

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Brett Oberholtzer (2-3, 5.03) makes his eighth start of the season for Myrtle Beach and his second against the Dash. He picked up the win at Winston-Salem on 5/20, allowing just one run on six hits over six innings. After going 1-3 with a 7.52 ERA in his first four starts with the Pelicans, Oberholtzer is 1-0 with a 2.37 ERA in his last three. He started the season in low-A Rome, going 0-2 with a 1.96 ERA in four starts with the Braves before earning a promotion in late April. Oberholtzer entered the season ranked by Baseball America as the 13th best prospect in the Atlanta organization and the third best left-handed starting pitcher. He spent all of 2009 with Danville and went 6-2 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts. He went 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA in ten relief appearances during his first professional season in 2008 for the GCL Braves. His fastball ranges from 86-92 mph with good tailing action. Oberholtzer also throws a curveball and a changeup. He was drafted out of Seminole (FL) CC in the 8th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. The 20-year-old is a native of Saint Georges, DE and he went to high school in New Castle, DE, not far from where the Wilmington Blue Rocks play.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from June 7, 2010


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