Hillcats Game Notes July 24th
July 24, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
Lynchburg fell 8-3 in 12 innings last night to Potomac in the rubber match of a three-game series at City Stadium...The Hillcats finished their six-game homestand at 2-4...Tonight they play game one of a three-game series at Frederick and the first contest of a six-game road trip...
VS. FREDERICK: Lynchburg and Frederick have already played four series against each other this season with the Hillcats winning nine of the 12 games and they ae 5-2 at Harry Grove Stadium...Last season the Keys won the season series against the Cats 12-7 and went 6-3 in the Hill City...Lynchburg holds the all-time advantage 151-132 and they are 72-67 at Frederick...
OLD DOMINION: The series with Potomac completed a stretch of 10 straight games against opponent inside the state of Virginia...Seven of those ten contest against Potomac and three games at home against Salem...Lynchburg, Potomac and Salem are the only three teams from VA in the eight team Carolina League...Lynchburg played in the Virginia league for 12 seasons, most recently in 1942...The Hillcats went 3-7 in those ten games and 2-5 against Potomac...
ALL NIGHTERS: The Hillcats played their two longest games of the seasn during their recent six-game homestand...Last Friday night they played 15 innings and four hours and 43 minutes before falling 8-4 to Salem in the longest game in the Carolina League this season...Last night the Cats and Nats went 12 innings before Potomac prevailed 8-3 in a four hour and 16 minute contest...Prior to these two games Lynchburg had not gone past the 11th inning in a game and had not hit the four hour mark...Strangely enough the two extra-innings games were both decided by four runs or more...
IT'S A WALK-OFF...OR IS IT? Last night INF Jordy Mercer smacked a ball over the wall in the left field corner in the bottom of the tenth inning that was originally ruled by home plate umpire Kolin Kline a home run...Mercer rounded the bases and was mobbed in celebration at home plate by his teammates and it appeared the Hillcats had their sixth walk-off win of the season...The Nationals protested, Kline asked for help from his crew mate Mike Goebel, and the call was reversed...Goebel helped turn the call despite the fact that he was behind the bag at first when the ball was hit and Kline was right on top of the line between home and third base...
WALK THIS WAY: OF Jared Keel went 1-for-2 last night with a double, an RBI and three walks...It was the fourth time this season he has walked three times in a game...During the Hillcats recent six-game homestand he walked ten times...In 61 games played this season Keel has walked a team-leading 51 times...Despite the fact that he missed the month of April with a knee injury, he is third in the Carolina League in base on balls...He is also second in the league in on-base percentage with a .408 clip, only behind teammate C Kris Watts (.451)...
PESKY P-NATS: RHP Ronald Uviedo made his fourth start of the season against Potomac last night...He is win less in those four outings with an 0-3 mark and a 4.29 ERA (10 earned runs in 21 innings) versus the Nationals...Against the rest of the league Uviedo is 5-0 with a 2.81 ERA (16 earned runs in 51 and 1/3 innings)...Last night was his first start with Lynchburg since June 17th at Myrtle Beach (placed on the Disabled List on June 19th)...He made three recent starts with the GCL Pirates prior to his appearance a night ago and went 0-1 with a 3.24 ERA (three earned runs in eight and 1/3 innings) for the Baby Bucs...
SWELL SEASON: RHP R.J. Rodriguez notched his 18th save of the season on Wednesday night by tossing a scoreless ninth inning...He leads the CL in that category and still only has one blown save on the season...He allowed two runs in his one blown save on July 2nd, those are the only two earned runs he has allowed in his last 21 appearances...Over that time he has lowered his earned run average from 4.70 to .248 and has walked only eight batters in those 22 innings after walking 11 his first 14 and 1/3 innings this season...July 2nd was also the only time this season he has allowed a home run and batters in the CL are hitting just .205 against the All-Star closer...
DE LOS RIDING HIGH: UTIL Jose De Los Santos went 1-for-5 last night with a walk...He has hit in 14 of his last 16 games and over that time he is batting .358 (24-for-67) with 10 runs scored and eight stolen bases...He has raised his average from .214 to .245 during that stretch...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Nate Nery was selected in the 18th round of the 2006 amateur entry draft by the Orioles out of Stetson University...His junior and final season with the Hatters he went 7-5 with a 4.53 ERA in 26 games (12 starts)...That same year he made his professional debut with Short-Season Low-A Aberdeen and posted 3-4 record with a 5.17 earned run average with 14 games (nine starts)...He returned to the IronBirds in 2007 and went 5-4 mark with a 4.08 ERA in 22 games (eight starts)...Last season he advanced to full season Low-A and had a 7-3 record with a 3.39 ERA in 15 starts with Delmarva...He was again with the Shorebirds to start this season and was 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five games (four starts) before getting the call-up to Frederick...Since his promotion the lefty has gone 3-4 with a 4.66 earned run average in 14 starts...Nery has made three starts against Lynchburg this season, going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA...
Carolina League Stories from July 24, 2009
- Hudson Takes Loss As Wilmington Takes Series - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Rizzo, Lin, and Nava Combine for Eight Hits in Salem Victory - Salem Red Sox
- Nats Drop Opener in Battle of Division Leaders - Potomac Nationals
- Rally Comes Up Short - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Thompson Helps Pelicans Soar Over Dash - Winston-Salem Dash
- Young Pitches Gem, As Kinston Beats Wilmington 3-2 - Kinston Indians
- Cats and Keys Postponed - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Keys and Hillcats will Play a Double-Header Saturday - Frederick Keys
- Keys and Hillcats will Play a Double-Header Saturday - Frederick Keys
- Nationals Game Notes July 24th - Potomac Nationals
- Hillcats Game Notes July 24th - Lynchburg Hillcats
- K-Tribe Game Notes July 24th - Kinston Indians
- Duffy Dominates For Series Victory - Wilmington Blue Rocks
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