CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes

Published on May 20, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg fell 8-2 to Wilmington last night to give the Blue Rocks a two to one advantage in this four-game series...The Hillcats have now lost seven of their last eight games and ten of their last 12...Tonight is the final game of a four-game series with Wilmington and the last contest of a seven-game homestand for the Cats...

VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are now 2-5 against the Blue Rocks this season after their loss last night...The Cats went 5-15 against the Rocks during the regular season last year, 3-7 at City Stadium and 2-8 at Frawley Stadium...Wilmington was the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus the Hillcats last season...In the post-season though, the Cats topped the Rocks three-games-to-two in a best of five series to win the Northern Division Championship and advance to the Mills Cup...Wilmington has the all-time advantage over Lynchburg 184-123 and they are 65-86 at City Stadium...

THERE FOR THE TAKING: Tonight Lynchburg finishes a seven-game homestand and a stretch of 17 out of 21 games at home...After starting that time period 6-2, the Hillcats have gone 2-10 since and they are 1-5 on their current homestand...They are also finishing a stretch of seven out of eight series against under .500 teams...This was the ideal time to make a move towards the top spot in the Northern Division, but the Cats find themselves nine games back of first place heading into tonight with 30 games left to play in the first half...After winning six out of seven games to pull back to an even .500 mark at 13-13, the Hillcats have since gone 2-11 in their last 13 games and had lost eight out of their last nine before their win in game one last night...

IT'S NOT HOW YOU START: Last night Lynchburg scored the first run of the game when they plated a run in the bottom of the second inning...They went on to lose 8-2 and they are 1-5 in the last six games they have scored the first run in...On the season they are 9-10 when scoring the first run of the game...Through 40 games this year, the Cats have blown 14 leads...The Hillcats enter tonight's series finale with Wilmington 1-10 in the final game of series this season...Meanwhile, they are 9-3 in series openers...Lynchburg went 0-4-1 in their first five sets of the season, then won three in a row, and now heading into tonight they are trying to avoid losing their fourth straight series...

IT'S HOW YOU FINISH: The Hillcats enter tonight's series finale with Wilmington 1-10 in the final game of series this season...Meanwhile, they are 9-3 in series openers...Lynchburg went 0-4-1 in their first five sets of the season, then won three in a row, and now heading into tonight they are trying to avoid losing their fourth straight series...

HELP WANTED: Lynchburg currently has three players that are listed as outfielders on their roster, Josh Fellhauer, Byron Wiley and Kyle Day...Last night Fellhauer went out of the game after colliding with the wall in left-center field chasing a fly ball...After he left the outfield consisted of Cody Puckett, Kevyn Feiner and Day...Puckett moved to center field last night to play there for the first time in his career...This season Puckett has played outfield for the first time as a professional and for the first time since he played a handful of games there in high school...Feiner has spent the majority of his six-year career at second base and had only played 34 games in the outfield before this season...Day has played the outfield, caught and played first in his professional career...He had only played 36 games in the outfield prior to this season, only played right field three times (which is where he played last night) and he has been the designated hitter more than anything else...

UP THROUGH THE QUAD TO THE GYMNASIUM: Last night C Devin Mesoraco 1-for-3 with a walk to keep alive his consecutive on-base safely streak...He has now reached safely in his last 25 games (and hit in 21 of those)...Over that time he is batting .348 (32-for-92) with five doubles, two triples, six homers, 18 RBI, 16 runs scored, 14 walks and an OBP of .450...His on-base streak is the longest by a Hillcat this season, the second longest by a Carolina Leaguer and is one shy of tying the longest streak this year in the CL (OF Brandon Short, Winston-Salem)...Mesoraco is now tied for eighth in the league in batting average (.328), tied for third in home runs (8), fourth in on-base percentage (.420), second in slugging percentage (.602) and tied for fifth in total bases (77)...

BATTLING BUCK: INF Alex Buchholz went 1-for-4 last night...He has now hit in a season-best nine straight games...Over that time he is 12-for-33 (.364) with three doubles, a home run, seven RBI, three runs and two walks...He has raised his average over that stretch from .250 to .277...He is also batting .447 (17-for-38) with RISP...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Manauris Baez was signed by the Royals in 2008 out of the Dominican Republic...In 2008 he threw for Rookie Burlington and went 2-2 with a 2.89 ERA and a save in 15 games (three starts)...Last season he pitched for Low-A Burlington and had a 8-6 mark with a 3.41 ERA and a save in 30 games (20 starts)...This season he moved up to Wilmington and has gone 1-2 with a 5.22 ERA in eight games (two starts)...He made his first start of the season last week in Wilmington against Lynchburg...He allowed ten hits, but only two runs in six innings of work...The Blue Rocks eventually won that game 6-5 in 10 innings...

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Carolina League Stories from May 20, 2010


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