SAL1 Greensboro Grasshoppers

Greensboro Grasshoppers Game Notes- 5.2

Published on May 2, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greensboro Grasshoppers News Release


Today's Game

Greensboro Grasshoppers (14-12)

@ Lake County Captains (16-10)

Starting Pitchers

RHP Stuart Alexander (3-1, 3.70)

vs. RHP Santo Frias (1-0, 4.58)

Quick Stats

GBO Team Batting Average: .231 (15th)

GBO Team ERA: 3.58 (6th)

LCO Team Batting Average: .245 (T-9th)

LCO Team ERA: 2.57 (1st)

Game Information

Start Time: 7:05 p.m.

Ballpark: Classic Park (7,273)

Location: Eastlake, Ohio

Road Work Resume: The Grasshoppers enter the series finale of a four-game series against the Captains and Game 4 of their current eight-game road swing through Lake County and Hagerstown tonight with a 9-4 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's win on Thursday secured at least a series split, keeping the Hoppers road series record unblemished... 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 27th time tonight with Greensboro holding a two-game lead in the all-time series, 14-12, with Thursday's extra-inning victory which was topped off with Ryan Curry's 10th-inning lead-off home run against Jonathan Holt to lead Greensboro past the Captains... Tonight's game is the fourth of 12 between the two teams this season and the fourth of eight in Eastlake, Ohio... On the road, the Hoppers have an 8-6 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: It took an extra frame, but the Hoppers were able to capture their second consecutive win Thursday behind the bat of 2B Ryan Curry who led off the top of the 10th inning with his first home run of the season... Greensboro scored two runs in the 10th en route to a 3-1 victory... Adam Howard went 3-for-4 on the night with a run scored and Ben Lasater collected his 20th RBI of the season.

PEN'd Against the Wall: The Greensboro bullpen has thrown 13.0 innings in the last three games against Lake County and has not allowed a run... In 13.0 innings of work, the Hoppers pen has struck out 12 Captain batters and allowed just five hits... The success is nothing new for the Hoppers bullpen, which has a 1.62 ERA on the road this season in 50.0 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 20.0 scoreless innings on the road.

Curtain Call: Ryan Curry's lead-off home run in the top of the 10th inning was the first extra-inning run Greensboro has scored this season... For Curry, it was his first home run since Aug. 31, 2007, and his first home run on the road since July 17, 2007.

Fine-point Pen: Right-handed reliever A.J. Battisto continued to dominate opposing batters Thursday by coming out of the bullpen and facing just three batters in 1.0 inning of work... Battisto has now tossed 3.0 innings of no-hit baseball in Greensboro's series against Lake County... Battisto extended his current streak and has now pitched 15.1 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 0.52... 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 is currently tied for the league-lead with 21 runs batted in this season... Lasater's name also appears on South Atlantic League leader board with the second-most home runs (7) and the fifth-best slugging percentage (.560)... OF Bryan Petersen enters tonight's game tied for fifth in the SAL with 19 runs scored... Greensboro closer Garrett Parcell has the second-most saves in the SAL with a team-high seven saves this season... RF Mike Stanton has 11 extra-base hits, good for sixth-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.

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.

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 is 2-1 in May 2 games... After winning back-to-back May 2 games in 2005 and 2006, the Hoppers dropped their May 2 game in 2007, 9-5, to Delmarva... All three May 2 games have been on the road for Greensboro.

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 Stuart Alexander (3-0, 4.20) is making his sixth start of the season tonight... After winning his first three starts, Alexander suffered a loss on April 22... Alexander has allowed just five earned runs in his last three appearances... In his last start, Alexander tossed all five innings that were played and was on the hook for the loss until Greensboro scored two runs in the home half of the fifth before the game was suspended.

2007 Recap: Alexander did not play in 2007.

Career Notes: Alexander has struggled up until this point in his young career... In 2006, the last season he played, Alexander was coming back from missing the 2005 season due to injury (Tommy Johns)... He posted a combined 0-7 record in 13 starts while splitting time between the Gulf Coast League Marlins and Jamestown of the New York Penn League... Signed as a non-drafted free agent on June 16, 2004, Alexander played with the GCL Marlins and Jamestown during the 2004 season before sitting out 2005.

On the Road: Alexander is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA on the road this season... He has made just two road starts and has won them both... Away from home, opposing batters are hitting just .216 against Alexander this season.

- Alexander's 2008 Starts: 3-1, 3.70 ERA, 24.1 IP, 21 H, 14 R, 10 ER, 3 HR, 10 BB, 21 SO

- Alexander's Last Win: April 16, 2008 @ Greenville (7-2 over Eammon Portice)

- Alexander's Last Loss: April 22, 2007 vs. Kannapolis (1-8 to Johnnie Lowe)

- Alexander's Last Complete Game: None

- Alexander's Career High Strikeouts: 8 (July 10, 2004 vs. GCL Dodgers)

Check out the Greensboro Grasshoppers Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 2, 2008


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