EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Flying Squirrels Game Notes at Harrisburg

Published on May 7, 2012 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


Richmond Flying Squirrels (14-17) vs. Harrisburg Senators (17-13)

Monday, May 7th -- 7:00 PM

Metro Bank Park -- Harrisburg, PA

Game # 32 - Road Games # 18

Radio: Sports Radio 910 AM (6:30 PM) Internet: sportsradio910.com

RHP Justin Fitzgerald (1-1, 3.41) vs. LHP Mike Ballard (1-1, 3.14)

SERIES AT A GLANCE: The Flying Squirrels will aim to snap a two-game slide when they take on the Harrisburg Senators in the opener of a three-game series tonight. On Sunday afternoon, Altoona topped the Flying Squirrels 4-1 and won three out of the four games between the two clubs at Peoples Natural Gas Field over the weekend. Curve starter Brandon Cumpton limited Richmond to three hits and one earned run in five and 2/3 innings pitched. He earned his fourth win of the season and his second in three starts against the Flying Squirrels. Gary Brown and Daniel Mayora provided the lone bright spots for a sluggish Richmond offense. Brown collected his eighth multi-hit game of the season, which ties him with Ryan Cavan, Chris Dominguez and Juan Perez for the second-most multi-hit games on the club in 2012. Mayora went 1-for-2 with two walks and he drove in the lone Richmond run with an RBI double. Charles Cutler and Quincy Latimore each contributed multi-hit games and drove in runs for the Curve.

The Flying Squirrels went 13-8 against Harrisburg in 2011 including a 3-3 mark in Harrisburg. Richmond is 16-15 all-time against the Senators and the club is 6-7 all-time at Metro Bank Park. The two teams will meet 20 times in 2012, 10 times in Harrisburg and 10 times in Richmond. Following this three-game series, the Flying Squirrels and Senators will meet again at The Diamond for a three-game series next week (5/15-5/17).

TODAY'S PITCHERS: RHP Justin Fitzgerald vs. LHP Mike Ballard Fitzgerald: Makes his seventh start of the season for the Flying Squirrels tonight. In his last start, Fitzgerald allowed four hits and one earned run along with two walks and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched against Bowie Wednesday. He received a no-decision in Richmond's 5-3 setback. Tonight's game will be his fifth career start, including one start in last year's Eastern League playoffs, against Harrisburg. He is 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA against the Senators. Last season, Fitzgerald went 9-9 and posted a 3.51 ERA in a team-high 27 starts with Richmond. He also led the 2011 Flying Squirrels pitching staff in innings pitched (146.1), finished second on the club in wins (9) and walks allowed (55) and third in strikeouts (111). As a result, Fitzgerald was named an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star. He also posted a 1-0 mark with a 2.70 ERA in two playoff starts and earned the win in the clinching game of Richmond's sweep of Harrisburg in the Western Division Championship Series. In 2010, he posted a 10-6 record with a 3.45 ERA in 26 appearances, including 25 starts, with Advanced-A San Jose and earned a spot on the California League Mid-Season All-Star team. Fitzgerald owns a 23-18 record with a 3.52 ERA in 115 career minor league appearances, including 58 starts. The Santa Rosa, Calif. native was selected by the Giants in the 11th round of the 2008 June Draft out of UC-Davis.

Ballard: Makes his sixth start of the season tonight. In his last start, Ballard allowed seven hits, four runs, three of which were earned, along with three walks and eight strikeouts in six innings pitched against New Britain Wednesday. He received a no-decision in Harrisburg's 5-4 setback. Ballard made two starts against Richmond last season as a member of the Bowie Baysox. He went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA against the Flying Squirrels. The southpaw is in his first season with the Senators after splitting the 2011 season between Triple-A Norfolk and Bowie in the Orioles farm system. Prior to 2011, Ballard spent five seasons (2006-10) in the Texas Rangers organization, ascending to the Triple-A level with Oklahoma City in 2010. He went 6-8 with a 5.09 ERA in 29 appearances, including 18 starts, with the RedHawks in 2010. He has a career record of 52-44 with a 4.45 ERA in 160 appearances, including 135 starts. Ballard was originally selected by the Rangers in the 14th round of the 2006 June Draft out of the University of Virginia.

UNTIMELY HITTING: The Flying Squirrels offense has been struggling in clutch situations of late. Richmond went 6-for-39 (.154 AVG) with runners in scoring position in its four-game series at Altoona, which concluded Sunday afternoon. The Flying Squirrels went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Sunday's 4-1 defeat. After scoring seven runs in the opening game of the series, the Flying Squirrels posted a total of just three runs for the final three games of the set, two of which resulted in losses. For the season, Richmond is batting .238 (62-for-261) with three home runs and 81 RBIs with runners in scoring position.

ROAD WOES: The Flying Squirrels are 1-3 on their current road trip and will attempt to reverse a trend of losing away from the friendly confines of The Diamond. Richmond lost their first three road games of the season at New Britain (4/5-4/6) and went 3-4 on its opening road trip against New Britain and Bowie, The Flying Squirrels went 2-4 on their second road trip of 2012 against Altoona and Reading. Richmond is now 6-11 on the road in 2012. Last season, Richmond compiled a 32-39 (.451) mark away from The Diamond. In franchise history, the Flying Squirrels are 69-90 (.434) on the road.

ROCK CHALK...: In his first season with Richmond, Brett Bochy has yet to allow a run in 10 appearances (17.1 IP). The former Kansas Jayhawk is 2-0 with one save after skipping over High-A San Jose. He has allowed 3 of 8 inherited runners to score.

Eastern League batters are hitting just .093 (5-for-54) against him in 2012.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from May 7, 2012


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