CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes August 14th

Published on August 14, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


Lynchburg lost 10-8 in the rubber match of a three-game series with Kinston last night at City Stadium...Tonight the Hillcats play the opening game of a three-game set with Myrtle Beach and game four of a six-game homestand...They are in the midst of 13 out of 16 at Calvin Falwell Field...After playing seven games on the road at Kinston and Myrtle Beach, the Cats are playing the Indians and Pelicans again in this six-game homestand...

VS. MYRTLE BEACH: The Hillcats are 11-6 against the Pelicans thus far this season and are 4-2 at City Stadium...Last year the Pelicans took the season series 13-7...Lynchburg was 6-6 against the Birds until they lost seven in a row to drop the series...Myrtle Beach has the all-time advantage in the series 115-101, and they are 52-52 in the Hill City...

MYRTLE MISCUES: Last weekend at Myrtle Beach the Pelicans committed nine errors in the four-game series against the Hillcats that led to eight unearned runs...Myrtle Beach has the second most errors in the league (136) and have the second worst fielding percentage (.968)...They now have 86 unearned runs in 113 games played...

KICK OUT THE K-TRIBE: Lynchburg played their last game against Kinston last night and the two teams finished the season series with ten wins a piece...The Hillcats had the advantage at Grainger Stadium, 6-4, but the Indians went 6-4 at City Stadium...They are currently the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record against the Cats this year at Calvin Falwell Field...

ALL NIGHTERS: Last night's series finale lasted three hours and 26 minutes, the longest nine inning game of the season for the Hillcats...It topped the 11-10 loss at Winston-Salem on July 2nd by one minute...Of the three games in the series against the K-Tribe, game two, which lasted two hours and 59 minutes, was the shortest of the set...

RUDE RETURN: RHP Chris Cullen made his return from the Disabled List last night, pitching for the first time since July 23rd...He allowed four runs in two innings and walked four batters...He had not walked more than two batters in a game all season and had walked only eight batters in 54 and 1/3 innings before last night...In his last five outings Cullen has allowed 14 runs in eight and 2/3 innings (14.53) and has raised his ERA from 3.02 to 4.79...

STARTIN' TO COME TOGETHER: LHP Justin Wilson is posting a 1.73 ERA (seven earned runs in 36 and 1/3 innings) in his last seven starts and has lowered his ERA from 6.75 to 4.83 over that time...LHP Jeff Locke has a 1.65 ERA (three earned runs in 16 and 1/3 innings) in his last three outings and has lowered his ERA from 5.94 to 4.61...LHP Rudy Owens has not allowed a run in his first two starts (nine and 1/3 innings) with Lynchburg and now has a combined ERA of 1.56 on the season...

DARN YES: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 1-for-5 with a double, an RBI, a run, and a stolen base last night...His five RBI on Wednesday night set a new career-high for the former fourth round pick...In this series against Kinston he went 7-for-15 (.467) and his current hitting streak is now up to seven games, his longest with Lynchburg...Over that time he is batting .387 (12-for-31) with four doubles, a homer, six RBI, six runs scored and two steals...

HARRY AND THE HILLCATS: UTIL Josh Harrison went 1-for-4 last night and has gone 9-for-18 (.500) in his last four games combined...He has hit in five straight games, in 10 of the 12 he has played with Lynchburg and on Sunday night a Myrtle Beach hit his first home run as a Hillcat...Defensively he has already played three different positions, third base, second base and left field...

PRIORITY PACKAGE: Priority reliever RHP Tom Boleska worked three innings on Wednesday night and did not allow an earned run...The right-hander has now not allowed a run since his return from the Disabled List on July 19th...That span now covers 15 and 1/3 innings pitched...On the season he has allowed just one earned run in 21 and 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.42...

CLOSING IN: RHP R.J. Rodriguez notched his Carolina League leading 25th save of the season on Wednesday night...The all-star closer is just four saves short of tying the all-time Hillcats single-season record...D.J. Carrasco had 29 saves in 2002 to set the record and is the all-time team saves leader with 38...Rodriguez has moved ahead of Rafael Chavez (22) and is now tied for second place in Cats history with Melqui Torres...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Jacob Thompson was selected by the Braves in the fifth round of the 2008 draft out of the University of Virginia...Out of Tunstall high school in Dry Fork, Virginia, he returns to Central Virginia to make his first start against Lynchburg tonight...His sophomore season at UVA he went 11-0 with a 1.50 ERA and two complete game shutouts in 17 games (16 starts) for the Cavaliers...His junior year and his final season with the Cavs, he went 6-4 with a 4.30 ERA in 15 starts...He made his professional debut that same year at the Rookie level with Danville and went 0-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two games (one start)...He also made one start with Low-A Rome, taking a no-decision as he allowed just one run in five innings of work...He returned to Rome this season and went 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA in 11 starts before getting the call-up to Myrtle Beach...In three starts with the Pelicans he has gone 0-1 with a 3.06 ERA...

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