Hillcats Game Notes for August 9
August 9, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (17-25, 62-49) @ MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS (19-22, 44-64)
August 9th, 2009 -- 6:05 PM @ BB&T Coastal Field
LHP Jeff Locke (2-8, 5.23) vs. LHP Cole Rohrbough (4-7, 6.30)
THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg edged Myrtle Beach 3-2 last night to take a two games to one advantage in their four-game series at BB&T Coastal Field...Tonight the Cats play the fourth game of this four-game set and the final contest of a seven-game road trip that will complete a stretch of 13 out of 17 on the road...They are now 3-3 on the current Southern Division swing...
VS. MYRTLE BEACH: The Hillcats are 10-6 against the Pelicans thus far this season and are 6-4 on the Grand Strand...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 115-100, and they are 63-48 at home...
MYRTLE MISCUES: Last night the Pelicans committed two errors and allowed two unearned run in the Hillcats 3-2 win...On Friday night the Birds made four defensive mistakes that led to four unearned runs in the Cats 7-1 victory...Myrtle Beach has the second most errors in the league (130) and have the second worst fielding percentage (.968)...They now have 93 unearned runs in 110 games played...
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS: The win last night for LHP Rudy Owens was his ninth straight victory and his first with Lynchburg...He finished his time with West Virginia by winning eight decisions in a row...LHP Richard Sullivan took his ninth straight loss with Myrtle Beach and his tenth straight defeat overall...His losing streak is now the longest skid by a Carolina League hurler this season...
WE MEET AGAIN: Tonight's starting pitching match-up features a pair of southpaw's that were rated as the top two left-handers in the Atlanta Braves system prior to the start of the season...LHP Jeff Locke was the seventh ranked prospect in the Braves organization according to Baseball America and was traded to the Pirates mid-season along with RHP Charlie Morton and OF Gorkys Hernandez for OF Nate McLouth...LHP Cole Rohrbough began the campaign as the sixth ranked prospect with the Braves...These two starters faced each other in Locke's only other start against his former team on June 25th at City Stadium...Rohrbough did not allow a run in five and 2/3 innings of work to earn the win and out duel Locke, who allowed three runs in seven innings of action to take the loss...
RUDY: LHP Rudy Owens pitched five scoreless innings last night and struck out six to earn his first victory as a Hillcat and at the Advanced-A level...In two starts with Lynchburg since his promotion from Low-A West Virginia, he has not allowed a run in nine and 1/3 innings and the Cats are 2-0 in those games...Owens went 10-1 with 1.70 ERA in 19 starts with the Power and was named a Mid-Season All-Star in the South Atlantic League...
HEARING THE FOOTSTEPS: UTIL Jose De Los Santos stole his 48th base of the season last night in 55 attempts in 89 games played...He is second in the Carolina League in swipes, only behind Wilmington's Derrick Robinson, who has 52...Last year De Los Santos had 28 steals and got caught 20 times in 114 games...
LATE BLOOMER: OF Jared Keel went 1-for-4 last night with a pair of RBI...He has hit in a season-best five straight games and over that stretch has gone 7-for-19 (.368) with a pair of long balls, seven RBI and three runs scored...In August of last season he batted .320 with eight dingers, 18 RBI and 21 runs scored in 24 games...
MINE! MINE! MINE! OF Alex Presley went 1-for-4 with a triple and a run scored on Friday night...He regained the top spot in the Carolina League in the category with nine triples on the season...UTIL Jose De Los Santos is tied for fourth in the circuit with five and the Hillcats are first in the league with 34 three-baggers on the season...
WONDERFUL WILLIE: LHP Justin Wilson allowed just one run on one hit in five innings of work on Wednesday at Kinston...The run scored on the lefty in the first inning stopped a streak of 15 and 1/3 innings without allowing a run...He has gone five innings or more in six of his last seven starts after he got through five innings just five times in his first 14 outings...In his last six starts the former Fresno State Bulldog is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA (six earned runs in 31 and 1/3 innings)...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Cole Rohrbough was selected by the Braves in the 22nd round of the 2006 amateur entry draft as a draft-and-follow out of high school in North Medford, Oregon...After a year at Western Nevada College he made his professional debut at the Rookie level with Danville in 2007 and went 3-2 with a 1.08 ERA in eight games (seven starts)...He advanced to Low-A that season and went 2-0 with 1.29 ERA in six starts with Rome...Last season he returned to Rome and went 3-4 with a 4.94 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) before his promotion to Myrtle Beach at the Advanced-A level...With the Pelicans he posted a 2-2 mark with a 3.41 ERA in five starts...This season he returned to the Birds and has pitched 17 games (16 starts) with a 4-7 record with a 6.30 ERA...Tonight will be his second start against Lynchburg, he threw five and 2/3 scoreless innings on June 25th at City Stadium and earned the win...Since that outing he has gone 0-3 with a 8.15 ERA in his last seven games (six starts)...
Carolina League Stories from August 9, 2009
- Former teammates spar through five, Birds 'pen falters - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Rocks Alone in First After a 5-1 Road Trip - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Keys Open Early Lead, Cruise Past Dash in Finale - Winston-Salem Dash
- Waring, Widlansky and Crancer Homer in 9-2 Win - Frederick Keys
- Kinston Sweeps Salem, Wins Sixth Straight - Kinston Indians
- Price defeats old team as Indians sweep Red Sox - Salem Red Sox
- Late rally falls short as Nats drop finale - Potomac Nationals
- Hillcats Game Notes for August 9 - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Red Sox Game Notes for August 9 - Salem Red Sox
- Blue Rocks Game Notes for August 9 - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- P-Nats Game Notes for August 9 - Potomac Nationals
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.
