SAL1 Greensboro Grasshoppers

Greensboro Grasshoppers Game Notes- 05.01

Published on May 1, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greensboro Grasshoppers News Release


Today's Game

Greensboro Grasshoppers (13-12)

@ Lake County Captains (16-9)

Starting Pitchers

RHP Cristhian Martinez (2-1, 4.18)

vs. LHP Ryan Miller (4-0, 0.82)

Quick Stats

GBO Team Batting Average: .231 (15th)

GBO Team ERA: 3.70 (6th)

LCO Team Batting Average: .249 (6th)

LCO Team ERA: 2.57 (2nd)

Game Information

Start Time: 12:05 p.m.

Ballpark: Classic Park (7,273)

Location: Eastlake, Ohio

Road Work Resume: The Grasshoppers enter Game 3 of their current eight-game road swing through Lake County and Hagerstown tonight with an 8-4 road record... Their current four-game set with the Captains is the third road series of the season for the Hoppers, who have not lost a road series this year... Greensboro opened the season by taking three-of-four games from Augusta on the road and followed with a 4-2 road trip in which they split a four-game series in Greenville and swept a two-game set in Kannapolis.

Series Insight: Greensboro and Lake County are playing for the 26th time tonight with the Greensboro reclaiming a one-game lead in the all-time series, 13-12, with Wednesday's one-hit performance in which they scored three unearned runs to take the lead and the game... Tonight's game is the third of 12 between the two teams this season and the third of eight in Eastlake, Ohio... On the road, the Hoppers have a 7-6 record against the Captains and last visited Classic Park for four games on July 17-20, 2007... Greensboro dropped the first two games of the four-game series, but recovered to take the final two games by shutting out Lake County 3-0 and 2-0, respectively... The current series marks the first time the Hoppers have visited Classic Park in April... The only time these two teams have played in April came last season when the Hoppers and Captains played a four-game set in Greensboro on April 9-12; Greensboro won the series three games to one.

Last Time Out: The Hoppers collected just one hit in Wednesday's day game at Lake County, and it didn't even factor in to the three runs Greensboro used to end a six-game skid... Lake County's Chris Archer walked the first two batters he faced in the third inning and after getting two outs, hit Ryan Anetsberger with a pitch to load the bases for Ben Lasater... Lasater punched a ball to the wall in right field where Matt Brown dropped the ball and was credited with an error, but the bases were clearing quickly and Greensboro plated three runs on no hits and one error en route to a 3-2 victory.

One-Hit Wonder: Wednesday's one-hit performance by the Hoppers was just the second time in team history that Greensboro has not collected more than one hit... The Hoppers only collected one hit on June 9, 2005, in a 3-0 loss against Savannah at NewBridge Bank Park... Wednesday was the lowest number of hits the Hoppers have ever had on the road.

Busting Out: Greensboro snapped its six-game losing streak Wednesday... The six-game skid sent the Hoppers from the top of the SAL Northern Division to four games back of first place Lake County and in a tie for fourth place... During the six-game skid, the Hoppers were batting .225 (51-of-227) and the pitching staff had a 5.50 ERA (36 ER/58 IP); the opposition had a .279 (65-of-233) batting average with a 3.20 ERA (21 ER/59 IP) during that same span... The Hoppers are currently tied for third and three games back of the Lake County.

PEN'd Against the Wall: The Greensboro bullpen has thrown eight innings in the last two games against Lake County and has not allowed a run... In 8.0 innings of work, the Hoppers pen has struck out eight Captain batters and allowed just three hits... The success is nothing new for the Hoppers bullpen, which has a 1.80 ERA on the road this season in 45.0 innings... Greensboro's pen has not allowed an earned run on the road since April 18 when Garrett Parcell gave up a ninth-inning run to Greenville in a 9-8 victory... Since, the Hoppers' bullpen has tossed 15.0 scoreless innings on the road.

Fine-point Pen: Right-handed reliever A.J. Battisto continued to dominate opposing batters by coming out of the bullpen Tuesday and throwing 2.0 innings of no-hit baseball... Battisto extended his current streak and has now pitched 14.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run... Battisto has allowed just one run on the season, which came in his 2008 debut against Augusta... Battisto currently sports Greensboro's lowest ERA at 0.55... RHP Corey Madden also hails from the Hoppers pen and has not allowed a run in his last six appearances (7.0 IP), but more impressive is his team-leading, 23 strikeouts in just 15.0 innings of work... Madden has struck out 13 batters in his last six appearances and has struck out multiple batters in all but one of his appearances this season-his first.

Player Notes: INF Ben Lasater currently has the South Atlantic League's second-most runs batted in (20)... Lasater's name also appears on SAL leader board with the second-most home runs (7) and the fifth-best slugging percentage (.586)... OF Bryan Petersen enters tonight's game tied for fifth in the SAL with 19 runs scored... Greensboro closer Garrett Parcell has the third-most saves in the SAL with a team-high six saves this season... RF Mike Stanton has 11 extra-base hits, good for fifth-most in the league this season... On the down side of the leader board, RHP Colby Miller has a league-high five losses and RHP Brett Durand has allowed the second-most home runs this season by giving up six.

Left the Park on A Lefty: Mike Stanton's fourth inning home run that tied the game Tuesday was the first home run that any Greensboro batter has hit off of a left-handed pitcher this season... Entering the game the Hoppers had 15 home runs -all of them came off of right-handed pitchers... Ben Lasater added Greensboro's second home run of the night in the eighth inning-it was the Hopper's 16th of the season off of right-handed pitchers.

Streaky Business: CF Bryan Petersen has currently reached base in all 13 home Hopper games this season; his home 13-game on-base streak is the longest active home on-base streak in the South Atlantic League this season.

Suspended in Time: The Hoppers trailed, 0-2, Sunday entering the bottom of the fifth inning and scored two runs by means of two walks and two hits, including a two-run single by 2B Danny Garcia.. The game was then suspended and will be resumed on May 4 when the Grasshoppers visit Hagerstown... The scheduled four-game series against Hagerstown was the only trip to NewBridge Bank Park for the Suns this season.

This Day in Hoppers History: Greensboro has split two May 1 games since becoming the Grasshoppers in 2005... In their first season, the Hoppers dropped a 5-4 game on the road to West Virginia... After not playing on May 1 in 2006, the Hoppers hit the road again in 2007 for a May 1 game, topping Delmarva, 3-2, in 12 innings.

Top Prospects: The Marlins' top pick in the 2007 draft (12th overall), Matt Dominguez, is the highest touted third-baseman on the Marlins' prospect list printed in Baseball America and enters his first full season of professional baseball after playing five games with the Gulf Coast Marlins and 10 games with Jamestown... In the same article, Dominguez was named the Marlins' best Minor League defensive infielder... Mike Stanton, the Marlins' second draftee in the 2007 draft, also split time between the Gulf Coast Marlins (8 games) and Jamestown (9 games) last season... Entering the season, Stanton ranks ninth on Baseball America's top 10 prospects for the Marlins and was tabbed the organization's best power hitter and best athlete in the minors.

Up Next: Following a four-game set with Lake County, the Hoppers head to Hagerstown where they will finish their suspended game from April 27 and play a four-game series at Municipal Stadium... Hagerstown took three straight games from Greensboro in their last meeting less than a week ago, but the Hoppers still lead the all-time series, 18-9... Since changing is nickname to the Grasshoppers in 2005, Greensboro has posted an 8-4 record at Municipal Stadium... The Hoppers' took three-of-four games from Hagerstown the last time they visited the Suns and are currently on a two-game win streak at Municipal Stadium.

Tonight's Starter: RHP Cristhian Martinez (2-1, 2.35) is making his sixth start of the season tonight... Martinez had three quality starts and was on a two-game win streak before making his last start where he suffered his first loss of the season after giving up seven runs on nine hits... Martinez will be looking to get back on track against a solid Lake County lineup that has out-hit Greensboro in each of their last two games.

2007 Recap: Last season in Greensboro, Martinez posted a 9-5 record with a 4.08 ERA in 18 starts for the Grasshoppers... After struggling in his first four starts, Martinez went 9-1 in his next 11 starts, including a stretch where he garnered wins in six consecutive starts... Martinez held opponents to a .259 average and struck out 74 batters in 97.0 innings of work... After going 0-2 prior to the all-star break and sitting out the entire month of May, Martinez returned to the rotation and went 9-2 with a 3.64 ERA during the second half of the season.

Career Notes: Originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by Detroit in 2003, Martinez was acquired via the Rule 5 draft by the Marlins in 2006... In five professional season, Martinez brought a 25-15 record with a 3.24 ERA into the 2008 season.

On the Road: This season, Martinez is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA on the road and South Atlantic League opponents are batting just .158 against him away from NewBridge Bank Park... In his last road outing, Martinez tossed six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits to pick up his second win of the season.

- Martinez's 2008 Starts: 2-1, 4.18 ERA, 28.0 IP, 25 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 4 BB, 11 K

- Martinez's Last Win: April 19, 2008 @ Kannapolis (1-0 over Rice)

- Martinez's Last Loss: September 3, 2007 @ West Virginia (10-4 to King)

- Martinez's Last Complete Game: August 23, 2004

- Martinez's Career High Strikeouts: 10 (September 5, 2006 @ Hudson Valley)

Check out the Greensboro Grasshoppers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from May 1, 2008


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.

OurSports Central