CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes August 19th

Published on August 19, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg dropped the series opener of their set with Salem 5-3 last night at Memorial Ballpark...The Hillcats have now lost four out of five and five and their last seven contests...Tonight the Cats play the final the middle-game of a three-game series at Salem...These three road games are sandwiched in between 17 games at Calvin Falwell Field...They went 2-4 on their recent six-game homestand...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 7-7 against the Red Sox in the 460 series this season and are 3-3 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 152-134, and they are 87-56 at home...After winning six of the first seven games against Salem this season, Lynchburg has now lost six of seven against the Sox...

SOUTHERN FOES: This series against Salem is the fifth of six series in a row (20 games) against a Southern Division opponent for Lynchburg...The Hillcats have already played Kinston and Myrtle Beach twice over this stretch and still have a series at home with Winston-Salem after this set...Thus far they are 6-8 over this time and they are 37-30 versus the division on the year...Prior to this current string of games against the South, the Cats played four straight sets (13 games) against the Northern Division...

OPENING NIGHT JITTERS: Lynchburg started this season 18-1 in series openers...With their game one loss last night, they have noow gone 4-16 in series openers since winning 18 of the first 19 this year...

CAUGHT NAPPING: In the last eight games against Salem the Hillcats have been picked off eight times, including twice last night...Six of the eight pick-offs have been by backstops for the Red Sox and the other two have been by LHP Derrick Loop, who leads the league...

MEDIUM HEAT: INF Jordy Mercer went 2-for-4 with a run scored last night...He has now hit in seven straight games and is batting .308 (8-for-26) with two doubles, three RBI and five runs scored over that time...Last night was his first multi-hit game since August 2nd, as he has collected one hit in 12 of the last 14 contests...Mercer leads the Hillcats with his 63 RBI and is second in the league with his 32 doubles...

WONDERFUL WILLIE: LHP Justin Wilson tossed seven scoreless inning on Sunday 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)...

PRIORITY PACKAGE: Priority reliever RHP Tom Boleska worked two scoreless innings last 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 20 and 1/3 innings pitched...On the season he has allowed just one earned run in 26 and 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.34...

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 Dave McKae was signed by the Red Sox as a minor league free agent after spending the first five years of his career in the San Fransisco Giants organization...He began his professional career in 2005 at the Short-Season Low-A level with Salem-Keizer and he went 3-2 with a 2.42 ERA in 19 games (four starts) for the Volcanoes...In 2006 he threw at the full season Low-A level with Augusta and posted an 8-2 record with a 1.66 ERA in 19 games (15 starts) for the GreenJackets...The next year he advanced to High-A level to San Jose and went 5-1 with 1.93 ERA in 11 starts for the Giants before he was promoted to Double-A...In 17 starts with the Connecticut Defenders McKae went 6-4 with 4.24 ERA...Last season he returned to the Defenders and had an 8-9 record with a 4.57 ERA...This season he has put up a 2-5 mark with a 4.96 ERA in 16 games (12 starts) starts with Salem...He has pitched three games (two starts) against Lynchburg and he is 0-1 with a 8.31 ERA...

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Carolina League Stories from August 19, 2009


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