CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes August 18th

Published on August 18, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg fended off a series sweep attempt by Myrtle Beach with a 3-0 win over the Pelicans on Sunday night...It was the Hillcats seventh shutout win this season...Tonight the Cats play the final the series opener of a three-game series at Salem...These three road games are sandwiched in between 17 games at Calvin Falwell Field...Thus went 2-4 on their recent six-game homestand...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 7-6 against the Red Sox in the 460 series this season and are 3-2 at Memorial Ballpark...Last season the Cats won the season series against Salem, then the Avalanche and an affiliate of the Houston Astros, by a count of 12-8...Salem was the only team in the Carolina League that the Hillcats had a winning record against...In the all-time series Salem leads 151-134, and they are 86-56 at home...After winning six of the first seven games against Salem this season, Lynchburg has lost five of six against the Sox...

SLIPPING SOX: Salem started the second half with a 17-10 record that included winning five out of six over Lynchburg...Since then though, they have gone 5-16...That stretch has included an eight game losing streak, losses in 13 out of 14 games and they enter this series having lost four in a row...

THEY TAWT THEY TAW A PUDDY TAT: The Cats finished their season series against the Birds with a 12-8 mark...They were 5-4 at City Stadium versus Myrtle Beach and 7-4 at BB&T Coastal Field...Myrtle Beach still has the all-time advantage in the series 117-102...

STREAK STOPPER: On Sunday night INF Chase d'Arnaud, UTIL Josh Harrison and 1B Matt Hague all had their hitting streaks stopped...d'Arnuad had hit in nine straight games, Harrison in seven and Hague in six...The three did not collect a hit, but they did combine to score two runs, drive in a pair, walk twice and steal a base...INF Jordy Mercer did extend his current streak to six games and UTIL Jose De Los Santos hit in his fifth straight contest as well...

WONDERFUL WILLIE: LHP Justin Wilson tossed seven scoreless inning last night to earn his sixth victory of the season...His seven inning pitched gave him his longest start of the season and his 11 strikeouts were a career high...The 11 punch outs were also the most strike outs by a Hillcat in a game all season, and the previous high was seven (Uviedo twice and McSwain)...In Wilson's last eight starts he is posting a 1.45 ERA (seven earned runs in 43 and 1/3 innings)...He has allowed just three runs in his last six outings and his ERA is 0.81 over that time...The lefty has now allowed two runs in his last 32 and 1/3 innings of work (0.56 ERA)...

HEATING UP: UTIL Jose De Los Santos went 1-for-3 Sunday night's game...In his last five games played he is 9-for-20 (.450) with three runs scored...In the month of August he is batting .340 (18-for-53) with eight runs scored in 14 games...

PRIORITY PACKAGE: Priority reliever RHP Tom Boleska worked three scoreless innings on Saturday night...The right-hander has now not allowed an earned run since his return from the Disabled List on July 19th...That span now covers 18 and 1/3 innings pitched...On the season he has allowed just one earned run in 24 and 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.37...

RARITY FROM RODRIGUEZ: RHP R.J. Rodriguez allowed a three-run home run that propelled the Pelicans to their 9-6 win on Friday night...It was just the second time this season he has allowed a homer...In his last four outings the right-hander has allowed six earned runs in three and 1/3 innings (16.22 ERA) that has raised his ERA from 2.45 to 3.50...He 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 Kyle Weiland was selected by the Red Sox in the third round of the 2008 draft out of the University of Notre Dame...He pitched primarily in relief in his three years of work for the Irish, going 2-2 with a 5.04 ERA with seven saves in 26 games his junior season last year...He made his professional debut last year as well with Short-Season Low-A Lowell, and went 3-3 with a 1.50 ERA in 15 games (10 starts) with the Spinners...This season he skipped full season Low-A to head to Salem and has gone 2-6 with a 4.71 ERA with the Red Sox...After starting the season 1-5 with a 7.78 ERA in his first nine starts, he has a record of 3-4 with 1.64 ERA in his last 13 outings...Against Lynchburg this season Weiland is 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA...He allowed five runs in four and 2/3 innings in his last start versus the Hillcats on July 19th, but all of the runs were unearned...He was ranked as the 23rd best prospect in the Red Sox system prior to the start of this season by Baseball America...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

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



Carolina League Stories from August 18, 2009


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