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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lychburg Hillcats Game Notes

September 4, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg took the series at Potomac with an 11-6 win

over the Nationals on Thursday night at Pfitzner Stadium...The Hillcats have now won two in a row after losing seven out of eight games...Tonight they play the first of four games in a row against Salem and the seventh game of eight in a row on the road...Thus far they are 3-3 over this stretch...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 9-7 against the Red Sox in the 460 series this season and are 5-3 at Memorial Ballpark...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 152-136, and they are 87-58 at home...After winning six of the first seven games against Salem this season, Lynchburg had lost six of seven against the Sox before winning the last two games...

BEARER OF BAD NEWS: Last night Lynchburg all but eliminated Potomac from the 2009 Carolina League playoff chase by taking two out of three from the P-Nats at Pfitzner Stadium...The Nationals now need to win their final four games and for Wilmington to lose their last four contests...Now the Hillcats have a chance to help end the playoff hopes for Salem, their 460 rivals...The Red Sox enter play tonight tied with Kinston for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division with four games remaining for both teams...All four games left for the Sox are against the Cats...

SHIPPING OUT: During the series at Potomac the Hillcats had four players leave the team...RHP R.J. Rodriguez (Temporarily Inactive List), RHP Moises Robles (promoted to Double-A Altoona), C Milver Reyes (promoted to Double-A Altoona) and C Joel Collins (traded to San Fransisco Giants)...Rodriguez left to play with Puerto Rico in the Baseball World Cup...He was in first place in the Carolina League in saves (27), second all-time in single-season Hillcats history and just two saves shy of tying the top mark...RHP Noah Krol was promoted from Low-A West Virginia and OF Ciro Rosero was activated from the Disabled List to fill the active roster spots left vacant...

FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM: Over the last six road games Lynchburg has collected seven sacrifice hits (four sacrifice flies and three bunts)...All four of the sac flies have come off the bat of INF Jordy Mercer, who leads the team with 12 sac flies and 15 sac hits on the season...The Hillcats have 94 sacrifice hits on the season, second most in the Carolina League...Their 50 sac flies are the most in the circuit...

BACK-TO BACK JACKS: The Hillcats hit back-to-back home runs for the first time this season in their five-run top of the fifth inning last night...C Kris Watts hit the first of the two big flies, and 1B Kent Sakamoto hit the second...It was the first homer for Sakamoto since June 14th (128 at-bats)...On Saturday night at Winston-Salem, the Cats hit two home runs in the same inning for the first time all season...

STRUCK BY THE LONG BALL: LHP Rudy Owens allowed three home runs last night in the first two innings at Potomac...He had not allowed a home run in his first five starts with the Hillcats (20 and 1/3 innings)...The lefty was recently named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the South Atlantic League...He was also named by the SALLY to the post-season All-Star team...This after the southpaw was named the best pitching prospect in the SAL, with the best change-up and best control by Baseball America in their recent best tools article...Owens has also earned Pitcher-of-the-Week honors three times (twice in the SAL and once in the Carolina League)...And the starter was a mid-season All-Star selection as well...

DARN YES: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 2-for-4 last night with three runs scored...On the road trip he has gone a combined 11-for-22 (.500) with three doubles, a homer, three RBI and nine runs scored in six games...His four hits in game one on Saturday night at Winston-Salem matched the most hits he has had in a single game in his career...In his last 16 games he is batting .355 (22-for-62), has scored 19 runs and he has hit in 14 of those contests...The infielder was also recently chosen as one of the six representatives of the Pirates in the prestigious Arizona Fall League this off-season...

DRIVING 'EM IN: INF Jordy Mercer went 1-for-3 last night with two RBI...He has driven in 20 runs in his last 21 games played and brought home 10 in his last six...He has hit in 18 of his last 21 games and over that time he is batting .309 (25-for-81) with four doubles, three homers, 20 RBI, 10 runs scored, seven walks and two stolen bases...He is batting .300 (33-for-110) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer leads the Hillcats and is fifth in the Carolina League with 81 RBI, and he is second in the league with 34 doubles...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Kyle Weiland was selected by the Red Sox in the third round of the 2008 draft out of the University of Notre Dame...He pitched primarily in relief in his three years of work for the Irish, going 2-2 with a 5.04 ERA with seven saves in 26 games his junior season last year...He made his professional debut last year as well with Short-Season Low-A Lowell, and went 3-3 with a 1.50 ERA in 15 games (10 starts) with the Spinners...This season he skipped full season Low-A to head to Salem and has gone 6-9 with a 3.51 ERA with the Red Sox...After starting the season 1-5 with a 7.78 ERA in his first nine starts, he has a record of 5-4 with 1.73 ERA in his last 16 outings...Against Lynchburg this season Weiland is 2-1 with a 0.57 ERA in three starts...He was ranked as the 23rd best prospect in the Red Sox system prior to the start of this season by Baseball America...

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