Hillcats Game Notes
Published on June 2, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
THE HILLCATS: Last night the Hillcats blanked the Red Sox 4-0 in the middle-game of a three-game series at City Stadium...The Hillcats and are now 4-1 on their current six-game homestand and with their win last night they secured their third straight series victory...They enter play tonight six games back of first place Frederick in the Northern Division with a four-game set with the Keys beginning on Thursday...
VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 4-5 against the Red Sox thus far this season and are 3-2 at City Stadium...The Cats went 10-10 against the Sox in the 460 series last season and were 5-5 at Lewis Gale Field...In the post-season the Cats swept the Sox three games to none in the Mills Cup Championship...In the all-time series Salem leads 160-141 during the regular season, and they are 68-82 in the Hill City...
HAVEN'T WE DONE THIS BEFORE? Lynchburg is in the midst of 13 games in a row that are all against Salem and Frederick...They are playing six at home against the two teams (three against each squad) and then heading on the road to play seven games (four in Frederick and then three at Salem) at the Keys and Sox home parks...The Hillcats began the season with 14 games against only Salem and Frederick as well and they will have a similar stretch at the end of July...
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN: With their win last night the Hillcats now have their longest winning streak of the season with four straight victories...Over a longer stretch they have won six of their last eight contests after they had dropped 13 out of 16...Lynchburg has now won three straight series after failing to win any of their last five sets...
WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN IN THE CITY: Last night Lynchburg improved to 20-19 in night games, while they are just 3-10 in day games this season...
MOODY MAY: The month of May was an up and down one for Lynchburg...They began the month 5-2, then went 3-13 over their next 16 games, only to finish the month with a 5-2 mark and three straight victories to close things out... The Hillcats batted .281 with a team ERA of 3.86 and had a record of 13-17...
NKOTB: The Hillcats bullpen has been bolstered by three additions they received during the month of May...RHP Nick Christiani (promoted from Low-A Dayton on May 2nd), RHP Sean Watson (reassigned to Lynchburg on May 12th) and LHP Donnie Joseph (promoted from Dayton on May 27th) have gone a combined 1-1 with two holds and one save with a 0.61 ERA (two earned runs in 29 and 2/3 innings of work)...Last night Christiani and Joseph combined to toss two and 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball and both picked up a hold in the win...On Monday night Watson earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief...Over the last four games the Lynchburg pen was gone 3-0 with two holds and a 1.16 ERA (three earned runs in 23 and 1/3 innings of work) to lower their ERA to 5.19, the lowest it has been that after two games into the season (3.18 ERA)...
SOX ASSASSIN: INF Jose Gualdron went 2-for-3 last night with a double, an RBI and a run...In five games against Salem this season he is 9-for-18 (.500) with four two-baggers, three RBI and four runs scored...Over the last six games he is 11-for-21 (.524) with five doubles, four RBI and five runs scored...Gualdron is a career .260 hitter and last season batted a combined .220 between Low-A Dayton and Advanced-A Sarasota...In the last six games he has raised his average from .264 to .338...
IT'S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP: RHP James Avery earned his first victory of the season last night by tossing five and a 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball...It was the first win for Avery since returning from Tommy John surgery he had last season...After starting the season with a 2.89 ERA in 10 starts with Double-A Carolina last season, Avery went out with an injury and missed the rest of last season and did not make his first start this year until May 21st...This season is his sixth in the Reds system, with the last three at the Double-A level...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Brock Huntzinger was selected by the Red Sox in the third round of the 2007 draft out of high school in Indiana...That same year he worked four games (three starts) for the GCL Red Sox and went 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA...The next year he pitched for both Short Season Low-A Lowell and full season Low-A Greenville...With Lowell he went 5-0 with a 0.64 ERA and with Greenville he had a 2-3 mark with a 7.09 ERA...Last season he returned to Greenville where he had a 10-9 record with a 4.09 ERA in 25 starts with the Drive...This season he has made 10 starts for Salem and has gone 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA...Huntzinger has made two starts against Lynchburg this season, going a combined 0-1 with a 8.31 ERA (eight earned runs in eight and 2/3 innings)...
Carolina League Stories from June 2, 2010
- Blue Rocks Blanked in Series Finale - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Rowell Comes Through in the Clutch - Frederick Keys
- Nats Bomb Dash in 12-4 Setback - Winston-Salem Dash
- Hillcats Complete Sweep of Red Sox - Salem RidgeYaks
- P-Nats Batter Dash 12-4, Take Series 2-1 - Potomac Nationals
- Rowell Single Snaps Birds Streak at Four - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Kipnis Homers, Kinston Blanks Wilmington 2-0 - Kinston Indians
- Cats Claw Out Victory, Sweep Sox - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
- K-Tribe Game Notes - Kinston Indians
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