CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes June 30th

Published on June 30, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg lost 6-2 last night in the second game of a brief two-game series at Salem...Tonight begins another two-game series with the Red Sox, this time in Lynchburg at City Stadium...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 6-2 against the Red Sox this season and are 3-0 at Calvin Falwell Field...The last time they met in Lynchburg, the Cats earned one of their five sweeps of the season by winning all three games of their set at City Stadium...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 147-133, but they are 61-77 in the Hill City...Lynchburg has won 11 out of their last 13 games against Salem...

WEIRD, WILD, WACKY STUFF: The Cats begin their second straight two-game series with the Red Sox tonight in Lynchburg, and playing a two-game set in Salem with the Sox on Sunday and Monday...Then next head to Winston-Salem to play one game with the Dash at Wake Forest Baseball Park and return home for a three-game series at City Stadium with Winston-Salem...The strange scheduling does allow the Hillcats the chance to sleep in their own bed for 23 straight nights...That stretch includes the All-Star break, an off-day, 15 out of 18 games at home and three commuter away games...

BY THE WAYSIDE: Last night Lynchburg stranded 10 men on base in their 6-2 loss to the Red Sox...After going down in order in the first three innings, they stranded two in the fourth, three in the fifth, two in the sixth, two in the eighth and one in the ninth...In the fifth inning the had the bases loaded with nobody out, but could not plate a run...The Hillcats were 0-for-11 with men in scoring position...

CAUGHT NAPPING: On two separate occasions in the two-game set in Salem the Hillcats were picked off of first base by a Red Sox catcher...On Sunday night C Kris Watts was picked off first by C Tim Federowicz, and last night INF Jose De Los Santos was thrown out at first by C Luis Exposito...It marked the first two times this season Lynchburg has had a man picked off by a catcher...

THE COWBOY WAY: Former Oklahoma State Cowboy INF Jordy Mercer went 2-for-5 last night with a double and a run scored in the Hillcats loss...In the last three games he is a combined 7-for-13 (.539) with four doubles, a homer, three RBI and four runs scored...In his last 15 games Mercer has raised his average from .226 to .249 by going 19-for-56 (.339) with nine doubles, a home run, 11 RBI and 12 runs...Mercer's teammate at OSU 1B Matt Hague, went 2-for-3 a night ago with a double...It was the fourth straight multi-hit game for the first baseman who has gone a combined 8-for-14 (.571) with four RBI in those four contests...He has hit in nine of his last ten games and has gone 13-for-31 (.419) over that time, raising his average from .278 to .298...Over the last three games Mercer and Hague have gone a combined 13-for-23 (.565) with five doubles, a homer, seven RBI and four runs scored...

R-ROD: RHP R.J. Rodriguez earned his 15th save in as many opportunities this season on Sunday night in the Hillcats 4-2 win at Salem...It was the third time this season he has notched a save on back-to-back days...The All-Star closer has not allowed an earned run since May 18th, a span of 12 appearances that has covered 12 and 2/3 innings (not including the 2/3 of an inning he worked in the All-Star game without allowing a run) of action...He has lowered his earned run average from 4.70 to 2.57 over that time and he is 1-0 with five saves and a 0.00 ERA in June...

SUFFICIENT SUPPORT: RHP Matt McSwain earned his team leading seventh win of the season last night by limiting the Red Sox to one run on seven hits in five innings of work...The right-hander had allowed just two earned runs in his last two starts combined and lost both starts...The Hillcats had given him just one run of support in both of his last two starts combined prior to putting up four runs last night in the 4-2 win...McSwain is now sixth in the league in ERA (2.93), tied for second in wins and third in innings pitched in the Carolina League...

HARVEY: RHP Harvey Garcia made his Hillcats debut last night after making two appearances with the GCL Pirates, allowing two runs in two innings after he missed all of 2008 with shoulder tendinitis...In 2007, Garcia pitched at three different levels in the Florida Marlins organization, including the major league level where he went 0-1, with a 4.38 ERA in eight games with the Marlins...Last night he pitched one scoreless inning and earned his first hold of the campaign...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Eammon Portice was selected by the Red Sox in the 12th round of 2007 draft out of High Point University...In his three years with the Panthers, he went a combined 19-17 with a 3.99 ERA in 51 games (48 starts) as a member of the Big South Conference...He made his professional debut in 2007 with Short-Season Low-A Lowell and went 0-2 with a 5.01 ERA in 14 games in relief with the Spinners...Last season he made two appearances (one start) with the GCL Red Sox and did not allow a run, but he spent the majority of the season with full season Low-A Greenville...With the Drive he posted a 4-4 record with a 3.64 ERA in 18 games (11 starts) in the South Atlantic League...This season he progressed to Advanced-A and has gone 5-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 13 starts with Salem...Tonight will be his first outing against Lynchburg...

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Carolina League Stories from June 30, 2009


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