Grainger Stadium Finale Dash Notes
Published on July 20, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release
WINSTON-SALEM DASH (12-13, 44-51) @ KINSTON INDIANS (14-10, 52-41)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 11:00 a.m. | "Historic" Grainger Stadium | Kinston, NC
Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch
Game No. 97 | Road Game No. 49 | 2011 Home Record 23-24 | 2011 Road Record 21-27
RHP Cameron Bayne (8-4, 3.44) @ RHP Brett Brach (6-6, 2.83)
The Great Awakening: Winston-Salem's offense woke up from an otherwise sleepy road trip last night to the tune of 11 runs on 14 hits en route to an 11-6 hammering of the K-Tribe. For the second straight night, the Dash jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the third inning, in part thanks to Ian Gac's two-run homer in the third, his first of two dingers on the evening. Winston took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth when the Indians erupted for four runs to get to within one score. The Dash responded with a four-run top of the seventh to re-establish a five-run lead, only to see Kinston score twice more in the bottom of the inning to get to within three. Leroy Hunt managed to shut down the K-Tribe offense the rest of the way as Winston added two more runs in the ninth to insure the victory. The win ended the Dash's three-game losing streak and shortened the Indians' Southern Division lead to 2.5 games. The teams wrap up their four-game series this morning in a game that serves as the finale to Winston's season-long 11-game road trip.
Kitchen Sink Ballgame: Last night's game had a little bit of everything, leaving many in attendance wondering what they had just witnessed. What started as a relatively benign contest turned into a strange edition of funhouse baseball by the final four innings. Matt Wickswat allowed just one hit over the first five innings, but gave up four runs on four hits in the sixth. That four-run inning was followed immediately by a four-run frame for Winston-Salem in the seventh, part of a two-inning stretch in which the teams combined to score 11 runs (they had scored 11 runs in the first two games combined). The Indians, the league's best defensive team, committed three errors that led to two unearned runs. In stark contrast, the Dash, who had not played an error-free nine-inning game in nearly a month (a 22-game span) and rank seventh in the league defensively, did not commit a defensive miscue. Winston-Salem managed 11 runs and 14 hits after hitting .185 and scoring an average of 3.2 runs per game over the first nine games of what has been an offensively-challenged road trip. Finally, when the game felt like it could not get any weirder, Kinston elected to bring in knuckleball-throwing Steve Wright to pitch the final two innings, giving many Dash batters their first chance to face a knuckleballer.
Farewell Grainger Stadium: Today Winston-Salem bids a final adieu to Grainger Stadium, the historic home of the Kinston Indians. After today, Dash will not return to Kinston in 2011 or in the foreseeable future. Following this season, the Indians franchise will move to Zebulon to become the new Carolina Mudcats (the current iteration will move to Pensacola, Florida for the 2012 season and remain in the Southern League). An air of uncertainty lingers over if and when Grainger Stadium will receive another tenant for the upcoming season. Built in 1949, the classic minor league ballpark has been the only home to the Indians, who rank second to Winston-Salem among the oldest clubs in the Carolina League. The Dash organization wishes the best to the Indians, their front office, and the people of Kinston in the quest to fill "Historic" Grainger Stadium. The venerable ballpark and those who fill it on a nightly basis will be missed.
Indian Giver: Ian Gac belted two more home runs last night, both two-run shots, to help power the Dash's offensive explosion. He has three homers in the last two games and has hit six over the last six games with 15 RBI. Gac has hit in eight straight ballgames and is batting .407 over his second-longest hit streak of the season. He raised his season batting average to .272, the highest it has been since May 23. Gac has pummeled Kinston pitching in particular this season. He is only hitting .276 against the Indians, but 13 of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases. He has blasted eight home runs and five doubles against the K-Tribe and has driven in 23 runs. Gac leads the Carolina League with 26 home runs and 72 RBI, 11 more homers and 13 more RBI than the closest players in either category in the CL. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (95), second in at bats (357), fourth in hits (97), second in doubles (26), second in slugging percentage (.563), first in extra-base hits (52), first in runs scored (64), first in total bases (201), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/13.73). Gac is on pace to hit 38 home runs this season which would surpass his previous career-high of 32 in 2008.
Party of Five: Five players produced the bulk of the offensive damage last night for Winston-Salem. Nick Ciolli, Ian Gac, Juan Silverio, Daniel Wagner and Andy Wilkins went a 13 for 21 at the plate with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 11 RBI and ten runs scored. The game was especially encouraging for Nick Ciolli, who went 2 for 4 with two doubles and four runs scored. He had been 2 for 24 on the current road trip prior to last night.
Happy Birthday Tyler Saladino!: Today Dash shortstop Tyler Saladino celebrates his 22nd birthday. Saladino had been the youngest player on Winston-Salem prior to the arrival of 20-year-old Juan Silverio earlier this week. The San Diego native is in his first full professional season and is batting .230 with 12 home runs and 27 RBI.
Putting the "K" in Kussmaul: Ryan Kussmaul kept racking up strikeouts Saturday night, picking up three more in 1.1 scoreless innings. The Wisconsin native and Iowa resident has been lights out lately, not allowing an earned run in his last 11 appearances. In 18 innings over this period, he has allowed six hits, walked four, struck out 37, and held hitters to a .103 average (6 for 58). He has lowered his season ERA more than two full runs since June 7 from 5.11 to 2.95. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.92, more than two better than Keys closer Sean Gleason (11.74). Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (66) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (42.2).
Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Brett Brach (3-3, 2.97) makes his 16th start and 18th appearance of the season tonight against Winston-Salem. He started against the Dash on May 26 and got the win, allowing one run on three hits in five innings. He also threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief against Winston on April 9. Brach has had only one subpar outing this season, in which he has allowed more than three runs and nine of his last 13 starts have been quality. Brach made a spot start for AA Akron on April 19 and threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits with four strikeouts in a win over Bowie. The Indians drafted Brach in the tenth round in 2009 and sent him to short-season Mahoning Valley, where he went 5-2 wit ha 2.19 ERA in 15 starts. He spent most of last year with low-A Lake County, going 5-8 with a 3.46 ERA in 22 starts. He briefly pitched for Kinston in 2010, making two appearances that totaled 2.2 innings. Brach played collegiately at Monmouth University alongside Dash starter Ryan Buch. The two were co-aces at Monmouth, helping lead the Hawks to the NCAA Regionals twice in three years. Brach went 7-3 with a 4.78 ERA in his final season, striking out 77 batters in 75 innings. His older brother, Brad, also a former Monmouth pitcher, is currently in AA with the Padres organization and has saved 78 of 84 opportunities over the last two years. Brad set a California League record last season with 41 saves, good for third in all of minor league baseball. Brett hails from Freehold, New Jersey, the same town where Kal Penn of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" fame was born.
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