Hot Rods Game Notes: Game One High-A East Championship Series
Published on September 23, 2021 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release
The first two games of the series will be played in Greensboro, North Carolina at First National Bank Field. Tonight's series opener begins with a 5:35 PM CT first pitch. Also attached to this e-mail is the Hot Rods postseason record book.
Entering the Series... The Hot Rods have made the postseason in five consecutive seasons and for the eighth time overall since the club started in 2009. Bowling Green won a Midwest League championship in 2018, the first title in team history, with Baseball America's "Team of the Year" featuring big leaguers like Taylor Walls and Vidal Brujan along with a flurry of top prospects. The team lost one game in their streak to the title, with a game-two setback against the Peoria Chiefs. The team's first win came in their fourth appearance in the postseason, a 10-8 win over the eventually champion Great Lakes Loons.
Rain, Rain Go Away... Bowling Green didn't miss a game until the final series of the season where two of the final six contests were washed out. The club traveled nearly 500 miles just for the first game of the championship series to be postponed twice by driving rain that lasted two days.
A rarity... The last left-hander to start a postseason game for the Hot Rods was Resly Linares in 2018, who made two starts that season. Game one of the High-A East Championship series will be the fourth game a southpaw has started in the playoffs and Seymour will be the third left-handed starter in the postseason in BG history. It's also the first time a lefty will get the ball for game one of any playoff series in the Hot Rods 12-year history.
Experience... There are eight Hot Rods who have postseason experience with Bowling Green from the 2019 team. Grant Witherspoon, Jordan Qsar, Erik Ostberg, Roberto Alvarez, Alan Strong, Zack Trageton, Michael Costanzo, and Nathan Witt were all on the roster during the 2019 Midwest League opening round against the South Bend Cubs wearing the blue and orange. Logan Driscoll, Evan Edwards, Gionti Turner, Trey Cumbie, John Doxakis, Carlos Garcia, and Evan McKendry all have experience at various levels in the playoffs.
The Series is Set... The Hot Rods and Grasshoppers face each other for the third time this season as the two best teams in the league. Greensboro bounced back after a rough penultimate series of the season to punch their ticket to the championship against Hudson Valley while the Hot Rods secured their place in the season's final set on their final road trip to Winston-Salem. The season series was close with the Hot Rods taking 7 of 12 while BG was the only South Division team the Grasshoppers had a losing record against.
Season Series Standouts... Grant Witherspoon had a great season against Greensboro, posting a .302 batting average with four homers over 11 games this season. He tied for the team lead in RBIs with Jordan Qsar, who also had 12. Qsar blasted five homers in the season series while Evan Edwards had four, three of which came in Greensboro in one series. Michael Costanzo and Alan Strong each led the team with four appearances, while Costanzo owned a 1.50 ERA over 6.0 innings of work while Michael Mercado led the team with 12 strikeouts. Greensboro was led at the plate by Will Matthiessen, who posted a .381 batting average over 10 games, knocking in a team-leading 11 RBIs. Four pitchers threw in four games this season with Quinn Priester striking out 13 in his 9.0 innings.
Now Pitching: Ian Seymour... The southpaw has played at three different levels this season, with the majority of his time being spent at Low-A Charleston. After making two appearances for the Hot Rods, Seymour made two starts for AAA Durham where the lefty was spectacular. He tossed 10.0 innings while posting a 0.00 ERA, recording 8.1 K/9. With Bowling Green, his K/9 was 17.1 prior to his promotion. The lefty is starting off High-A hitters with a strike a staggering 59.5% of the time while he's getting hitters to swing at strikes 22.2%. Seymour has not faced the Grasshoppers or a Pirates affiliate in his career.
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