Sports stats



CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Easter Sunday Dash Game Notes

April 24, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (7-8) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (10-5)

Sunday, April 24, 2011, 2:00 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Game No. 16 ⌂ Home Game No. 7 | 2011 Home Record 3-3 | 2011 Road Record 4-5

RHP Justin Collop (0-1, 4.76) vs. RHP Elisaul Pimentel (1-0, 7.56)

Mitchell's Might Powers the Dash's Night: Jared Mitchell sent the BB&T Ballpark faithful home happy last night with a walk-off home run to start the eighth inning to send the Dash to a 3-2 win in game two of yesterday's doubleheader. Winston-Salem rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning on Ian Gac's two-run home run and kept Wilmington off the scoreboard to send the contest to extra innings, where Mitchell played the role of here. In his last seven games, the former LSU standout is batting .310 with a homer, four doubles, a triple, six RBI, and five runs scored.

Game One Blues: The Blue Rocks snagged game one of the double-dip with a decisive 10-2 victory over Winston-Salem. After both starting pitchers allowed one run in the first, both settled down to at one point retire 11 straight batters. Wilmington found the holes in the Dash defense as the game progressed, scoring four times in the fifth, thrice in the sixth, and two times more in the seventh to put away the home team. The Rocks' ten runs were the most allowed by Winston-Salem this year and it was the largest margin of defeat for the Dash in 2011.

Big-Time Bombs: Ian Gac tied the Carolina League lead in home runs with his two-run blast in the sixth inning of game two last night. Gac is now tied with Lynchburg's Joseph Terdoslavich for the most in the CL. Gac's homer tied the game at two and allowed the Dash to win in extra innings. That sort of clutch home run is nothing new for the slugger, as all but one of his longballs this season have either tied the game or given Winston-Salem the lead. Gac is now third in the CL in RBI (16), fourth in slugging percentage (.679), and first in total bases (38).

Entering Wilkins County: Andy Wilkins appears to be over his early-season struggles. On Thursday night, the 1B/DH blasted his second home run in as many nights, a solo shot off the centerfield batter's eye. He also added an RBI single later in the contest. Impressively, both of Wilkins' homers have been hit against left-handed pitchers. It was the eighth career home run for the White Sox' fifth round draft pick from 2010. In his last six games, Wilkins is hitting .313 (10 for 32) with two home runs, two doubles, five RBI, four runs, and two walks.

Rocks Rock: Cameron Bayne had vastly different results between yesterday's start and his first two of the season. After not allowing any runs and just four combined hits in his first two outings of 2011, Bayne surrendered seven runs on seven hits in five-plus innings en route to his first loss of the year. It was the second straight start a Dash pitcher had allowed seven runs, as Hector Santiago also gave up a walking stick's worth of runs on Thursday. Prior to Santiago's outing, the Dash's starting pitchers had allowed three runs or fewer in every game this season. In 11 of the first 12 games, Winston's starting pitchers allowed two or fewer runs (in the only exception, Terry Doyle allowed three runs in a six-inning complete game on April 13). Over the last three games, Winston's starting pitchers' ERA has jumped from 2.07 to 3.84.

Keeping ‚¬ËœEm Close: The Dash played just its second lopsided game of the season yesterday in the first contest with Wilmington, a 10-2 loss. Winston went right back to its close-game formula in game two though, with its 3-2 victory in the nightcap. Thirteen of the 15 games the team has played this year have been decided by three runs or fewer. Eleven games have been decided by one or two runs and two have been decided by three runs. The Dash has held the lead in all but one of its games this season, the lone exception being game one yesterday. The game two win improved the team to 3-5 in one-run games.

Attention J-Mart Shoppers: Despite going 1 for 6 during Saturday's doubleheader, Jose Martinez took over the league lead in batting average. The Venezuelan is hitting at a .407 clip, three points higher than Wilmington's Rey Navarro. Martinez is a regular resident on the Carolina League statistical leaderboards. His 24 hits lead the league as do his 16 runs scored. He is second in doubles (7) and in .470. He is also third in most plate appearances per strikeout (11.17).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Elisaul Pimentel (1-0, 7.56) makes his third start of the season and his first against Winston-Salem. After getting roughed up in his season debut at Kinston (3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 HR), he was better last time out in a win against the K-Tribe (5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 5 K, 0 BB). Pimentel enters the season ranked by Baseball America as the 29th-best prospect in the Royals farm system. He was picked up by Kansas City at the trading deadline last season in a trade that sent Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers in exchange for Pimentel and Triple-A catcher Lucas May. Coincidentally, Royals GM Dayton Moore made a deadline deal in 2009 that brought another Pimentel, Blue Rocks righty Julio Pimentel, to the organization. Elisaul Pimentel spent all of last year in the Midwest League, making 17 appearances (16 starts) for Great Lakes (LAD) and five starts for Burlington (KCR). He went 10-6 (fifth in the MWL in wins) with a 3.89 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 115.1 innings. Over a six-start stretch in 2010, he allowed just one earned run in 35 innings and earned MWL "Pitcher of the Week" honors. Prior to last season, Pimentel had spent his three previous seasons in rookie ball with the DSL/GCL Dodgers and Ogden. He signed with Los Angeles out of the Dominican Republic as an 18-year-old in 2006 . Pimentel will be defying the odds if he reaches the big leagues; of the 31 players with the surname "Pimentel" that have played in the minor leagues, none of them have reached the majors.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...

Carolina League Stories from April 24, 2011


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.

Other Recent Winston-Salem Dash Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central