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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes August 25th

August 26, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


Lynchburg dropped game two 4-2 last night to Wilmington and have now lost the first two games of the four-game series...The Hillcats are at the tail end of 14 out of 17 games at Calvin Falwell Field...They are 6-9 over that time thus far...Tonight they play game three of their set with the Blue Rocks...This series will close out an eight-game homestand for the Cats...

VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 5-13 against the Blue Rocks this season, 3-5 at City Stadium and 2-8 at Frawley Stadium...Wilmington is the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus the Hillcats this season...Last season the Rocks topped the Cats in the season series 11-9 and were 6-4 at home...Wilmington has the all-time advantage over Lynchburg 175-121 and they are 83-63 at City Stadium...Lynchburg was 4-3 in the series this year, but the Rocks have won 10 out of 11 since and the last seven games...

SET ‘EM OFF: The last time the Hillcats and Blue Rocks met Wilmington swept Lynchburg at Frawley Stadium...The Rocks entered that series having won two in a row and went on to win 12 straight contests before their next loss...That was part of a stretch in which Wilmington won 15 out of 16 games...Since July 25th, the Blue Crew is 23-6 and they currently enjoy a two and a half game lead over Potomac for first place in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the Northern Division...After their win last night, the Rocks have now won four straight and eight of their last nine games...If Wilmington grabs the other playoff spot they will meet Lynchburg in the divisional series...

TIMING IS EVERYTHING: Last night Lynchburg went 2-for-18 with men in scoring position and they are now 4-for-31 in this series...They have out hit Wilmington in both games in the series but haave lost both contests...In the second half of the season Lynchburg is batting 18 points higher than they did in the first half of the season (.264, .246 in the first) to raise their overall batting average to .255 (tied for fourth in the Carolina League)...However, after batting .267 with men in scoring position in the first half, they are hitting just .239 with RISP in the second...In the opening half of the season the Hillcats had 1.9 two-out RBI per game, in the second they have 1.4 per contest...

CHANCE TO CLINCH AGAIN: One more win this season will ensure a winning record for the Hillcats in 2009...It would mark the first time since 2005 (78-62) that Lynchburg would post an over .500 record...Prior to this season the Cats have had a winning record four times in their 14 seasons played...They have already secured their sixth playoff appearance since the team began play in 1995...

START ME UP: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, a pair of runs scored and a walk...He doubled leading off the bottom of the first...It was the fourth straight time he has gotten a hit to start the Hillcats offensive evening...Three of those times he has doubled and all three of those times he scored...The former fourth rounder has now hit in eight straight games and has three straight multi-hit contests...Over the last eight games he is batting .355 (11-for-31) with four doubles, a triple, an RBI, nine runs scored, four walks and two steals...

NO NEED TO PRESS: OF Alex Presley went 2-for-4 on Monday night with a run scored and extended his hitting streak to eight games...Over that time he is 11-for-29 (.379) with a double, a homer, three RBI and five runs scored...He is batting .309 in August and batted .280 in July...This after he hit just .165 in June...Over that time he has raised his average from .229 to .254...

STARTING TO POP: 1B Matt Hague went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles last night...On Monday night he smacked his sixth home run of the season...He had gone 39 games and 151 at-bats without a long ball...That was his longest drought of the season and of his career...He went homerless in his first 30 games of the season as well...In his last four games played he is 9-for-19 (.474) with four doubles, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored...Hague is tied for second in the Carolina League with his .291 batting average, only behind teammate C Kris Watts (.305)...

MIGHTY MERCER: INF Jordy Mercer went 2-for-4 last night with an RBI...He has hit in 13 of his last 14 games and over that time he is batting .346 (18-for-52) with four doubles, a homer, ten RBI, eight runs scored, six walks and two stolen bases...He is batting .321 (26-for-81) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer leads the Hillcats with 71 RBI and is second in the league with 34 doubles...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Michael Montgomery was a supplemental first round selection of the Royals in the 2008 draft out of Hart high school in Newhall, California...He made his debut in the Royals system in the Rookie level Arizona League last year where he went 2-1 with 2.11 ERA in 12 games (nine starts)...He was named the top prospect in the league by Baseball America...This season he started the season with Low-A Burlington and went 2-3 with 2.17 ERA in 12 starts in the Midwest League before his promotion to Wilmington...With the Blue Rocks he has gone 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in six starts at the Advanced-A level...He was ranked as the fourth best prospect in the Royals farm system prior to the start of the season...Tonight will be his first start against Lynchburg...

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