Lynchburg Hillcats 2009 Final Game Notes
Published on September 22, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
NEXT GAME: 2010 OPENING NIGHT
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (0-0) vs. FREDERICK KEYS (0-0)
April 8th, 2010 -- 6:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium
THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg topped Salem 8-7 to complete a sweep of the 2009 Mills Cup Championship Series...The Hillcats won their final five games of the post-season, matching their longest winning streak of the regular season...The Carolina League Championship is the sixth for Lynchburg, the third for the Hillcats and their first since 2002...
460 SERIES: Lynchburg met Salem in the Carolina League Championship for the first time ever this season...It marked the third time the two teams have met in post-season play, the first in the Mills Cup...The Lynchburg White Sox defeated the Salem Rebels in 1968 in a one-game playoff...In 1988 the Lynchburg Red Sox defeated the Salem Buccaneers two games to one in the NDCS...
ATTENDANCE TOPPING: The Hillcats broke their all-time attendance record this season that was set in 2007...Two years ago 164,413 fans filed through the gates to set the mark...The 2009 attendance finished at 167,090...The Cats have drawn more than 148,000 every season since the renovation of City Stadium was completed in 2004...
COMEBACK CATS CAME BACK: Lynchburg came from behind to win their last five games in the post-season...In the first half of the season the Hillcats had 23 comeback wins in 69 games and had 37 on the season...During the regular campaign they won 15 times by scoring in their last team at-bat, came back to win 11 times when trailing in the seventh inning or later, and won four times when trailing after eight innings...
TIMING IS EVERYTHING: In the second half of the season Lynchburg batted 13 points higher than they did in the first half of the season (.259, .246 in the first) to raise their overall batting average to .253...However, after batting .267 with men in scoring position in the first half, they hit just .231 with RISP in the second to lower their season average to .248...After starting the playoffs 3-for-29 (.104) with men in scoring position in their first three games, they went 13-for-38 (.291) in the last five contests...Lynchburg scored 32 runs in their last five games (6.4 runs per game) of the post-season after they scored just two runs in the first three (0.67 runs per game)...
LONG TIME COMING: UTIL Jose De Los Santos smacked a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning in game two of the Mills Cup to give Lynchburg a 5-4 win...In two seasons as a Hillcat (170 games, 663 at-bats) he never hit a home run...It was his first home run in the United States, the third of his career and his first long ball since he hit two in 2005 in the Dominican League Summer League...Over the past four seasons De Los Santos played 311 games with 1,194
at-bats, and did not homer...
HE'S ALIVE: INF Chase d'Arnaud started this post-season 1-for-16 (.063)...After his home run in the ninth inning of game four of the NDCS he went 6-for-17 (.353) with three doubles, a homer, nine RBI, five runs, two walks and two steals...He was named the MVP of the Mills Cup Championship after batting .308 (4-for-13) with three doubles, seven RBI, two runs, a stolen base and a walk...
FILLING THE CUPBOARD: This season Lynchburg had six different players from six different trades the Pirates made...INF Josh Harrison came from the Cubs, RHP Nate Adcock from the Mariners system, LHP Jeff Locke was moved from the Braves to the Pirates, C Eric Fryer came to the Cats from the Yankees system, OF Lastings Milledge spent a few games with Lynchburg after coming to the Pirates from the Nationals and RHP Michael Dubee was acquired from the White Sox...
THIRTY SOMETHING: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette updated their top 30 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system toward the end of the season with significant input from four of the top people in baseball operations...Of those thirty, seven ended the season on the Hillcats roster, RHP Bryan Morris (9), LHP Jeff Locke (10), INF Chase d'Arnaud (11), LHP Rudy Owens (14), INF Jordy Mercer (23), UTIL Josh Harrison (26), RHP Nate Adcock (27)...Former Hillcat 3B Pedro Alvarez is still rated as the number one prospect in the system...
CLASS OF '08: The roster for the Hillcats at the end of the season featured six players selected in the 2008 draft...INF Jordy Mercer was selected in the third round out of Oklahoma State, INF Chase d'Arnaud was a fourth round pick out of Pepperdine, LHP Justin Wilson pitched for the 2008 College World Series Champion Fresno State Bulldogs and was taken in the fifth round by the Pirates, 1B Matt Hague was a ninth rounder out of Oklahoma State and RHP Mike Colla was plucked in the 14th round out of Arizona...UTIL Josh Harrison was an '08 selection for the Cubs, a sixth round pick out of Cincinnati, where he was Co-Big East Player of the year last season...Former Hillcat 3B Pedro Alvarez, was another member of last year's draft class, the second overall pick in the draft spent his college days playing for Vanderbilt...
FIRST YEAR CREW: Manager P.J. Forbes, Pitching Coach Wally Whitehurst and Hitting Coach Dave Howard were all in their first year in Lynchburg and their first season in the Pirates farm system...They staff guided the Hillcats to a 45-24 mark to win the first half championship in the Northern Division and eventually led the Cats to their third ever league title...
LIFE AT THE TOP: At the all-star break Lynchburg was tied for the second most wins in all of Minor League Baseball...It was the second best half in team history...They finished only behind the 2002 first half Hillcats, who went 47-23 and also won the Carolina League Championship...
UNDERDOG ON TOP: Lynchburg won the Northern Division Championship Series over Wilmington to win the Northern Division crown...The Hillcats were tied for the worst record in the Carolina League in the second half of the season (28-42) and the Blue Rocks had the best record in the CL in the second part of the year (46-24)...The Cats went 5-15 against the Rocks during the regular season and entered the post-season with a nine-game losing streak against them...Wilmington was the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus Lynchburg this season...After July 24th, the Blue Crew went 33-10 after they started the second half 13-14...The Green & Gold dropped game one, but won three out of the next four games to take the best of five series...In 2002 Lynchburg also lost the season series to Wilmington 15-5 and lost game one of the NDCS, before winning the next two games to take the best of three series...
FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM: The Hillcats had 98 sacrifice hits on the season, second most in the Carolina League...Their 52 sac flies were the most in the circuit...
BATTERED AND BRUISED: On the season Lynchburg was hit by a pitch 97 times, the most of any team in the Carolina League...The next closest in the circuit is Winston-Salem with 72...
NOTHING FOR FREE: The Hillcats pitching staff led the league with least walks issued this season, with only 342 base on balls...The next fewest was Wilmington with 371...
YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: Lynchburg had three mid-season All-Star selections: RHP R.J. Rodriguez, C Kris Watts and OF Miles Durham...Rodriguez was the only post-season all-star selection for the Hillcats...
REWARDED: RHP Matt McSwain was named the Hillcats starting pitcher of the year...He led the team in wins (11) and innings pitched (144 and 1/3)... R.J. Rodriguez was named the reliever of the year...He led the Carolina League with 27 saves...C Kris Watts was named the Most Valuable Player...He finished fourth in the league in batting average (.291) and first in on-base percentage (.405)...
BITTERSWEET DEPARTURE: Following the conclusion of the first half of the season, four Hillcats were promoted to Double-A Altoona...3B Pedro Alvarez, OF Miles Durham, RHP Michael Dubee and RHP Dustin Molleken all have earned the call-up to the Curve...Alvarez was leading the league in RBI (55) and second in the circuit in homers (14)...Durham was leading the league in hits (73), tied for third in doubles (19), tied for fourth in triples (4) and tied for second in extra-base hits (30)...Dubee was posting a 1.05 ERA in his 23 appearances with Lynchburg and had 53 strike outs to three walks in 37 and 1/3 innings of work this season overall...Molleken was 3-1 with a 3.48 earned run average in his second season with the Cats...
FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATICS: 3B Pedro Alvarez hit two game-tying homers in the ninth inning, three game-winning home runs, including two walk-offs at City Stadium...Of the 14 long balls he hit with the Hillcats, eight were go-ahead shots, two were game-tying and Lynchburg went 11-1 in games he homered in...Alvarez hit two of the six multi-homer games of the season for the Cats and he hit a grand slam in both contests...
AUTOMATIC: RHP R.J. Rodriguez led the Carolina League with 27 saves this season...He only blew one save on the season and was the only Hillcat to earn mid- and post-season All-Star nods...
EXTRA WATTAGE: C Kris Watts batted .444 (24-for-54) in the month of April and was leading the circuit in batting at the end of the month...He finished with a .291 average, fourth in the CL...His .405 OBP led the league...He was a career .250 hitter in three years as a professional prior to this season...
OUT OF NOWHERE: LHP Rudy Owens combined to go 12-2 with a 2.11 ERA between Lynchburg and West Virginia in 2009...He was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the South Atlantic League...The left-hander was also named by the SALLY to the mid- and post-season All-Star teams...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...He has also earned Pitcher-of-the-Week honors three times (twice in the SAL and once in the Carolina League)...Owens also went 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two playoff starts for the Hillcats...Last season the starter went 3-6 with a 4.97 ERA for Short Season Low-A State College...
MAC ATTACK: RHP Matt McSwain was named Carolina League Pitcher of-the-Week for the week of August 17th-23rd...It marked the second time this season a Hillcat hurler has garnered the award (LHP Rudy Owens, August 3rd-9th)...He tied for second in the league in wins (11), was third in innings pitched (144 and 1/3) and sixth in earned run average (3.43)...McSwain was the Hillcats first 11-game winner since 2002...
U-TURN: LHP Justin Wilson started his first professional season this year with a 3-5 record and a 6.75 ERA in his first 15 starts...He closed out the regular season going 3-3 with 2.20 ERA in his final 11 starts...At one point over that stretch he allowed four earned runs in seven starts (1.08 ERA)...He carried that momentum into the playoffs, where he went 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA in two game one starts for the Hillcats...One year after winning the College World Series with Fresno State, Wilson won a Carolina League title with Lynchburg...
THE MAN OF MAY: OF Miles Durham was named the Carolina League's Topps Player-of-the-Month for the month of May this season...He hit .333 (36-for-108) with six home runs, eight doubles, 21 RBI and 20 runs scored in the month...The Hillcats went 19-9 in May to take control of the Northern Division...
QUITE THE CATCH: C Tony Sanchez was added him to the roster with three games left to play in the regular season, promoted from Low-A West Virginia...Sanchez was the fourth overall pick by the Pirates out of Boston College in this year's draft and was batting .316 with 15 doubles, seven home runs and 46 RBI in 41 games played for the Power...He is the third fourth overall pick and the fourth top five overall pick to play for Lynchburg in the last two seasons (Pedro Alvarez, Daniel Moskos and Brad Lincoln)...Sanchez hit the game-winning home run in game four of the NDCS at Wilmington to propel the Hillcats to a 5-2 win to fend off elimination...
FALL BALL: INF Chase d'Arnaud was also chosen as one of the six representatives of the Pirates in the prestigious Arizona Fall League this off-season...He finished the regular season with 30 runs scored in his last 30 contests and had a .430 OBP (58-for-135) in those games...He hit in 25 of his last 30 games and batted .331 (40-for-121) over that time...In the first half d'Arnaud played for Low-A West Virginia where he was a mid-season All-Star selection...
DRIVING 'EM IN: INF Jordy Mercer drove in 22 runs in his last 24 games of the regular season and brought home a run in eight straight games (12 in those contests) prior to the final game of the campaign...Mercer led the Hillcats, finished fifth in the Carolina League and finished second in the farm system with 83 RBI...He also was first in the league with 36 doubles...
THREE-BAGGIN': OF Alex Presley led the league this season with 11 triples and set the all-time single season record for the Hillcats...In 2006 he led the New York-Penn League in triples with three and he tied the school record for three-baggers at Ole Miss with 14...
BORN TO RUN: UTIL Jose De Los Santos stole 53 bases this season in 61 attempts (87% success rate)...In 2008 he stole 28 bags in 48 tries (58%)...His 53 swipes led the team, put him third in the Carolina League and it was the fourth most stolen bases in a season in Hillcats history...His 67 steals in his career for Lynchburg places him third on the all-time list...
YOU"VE ONLY JUST ARRIVED: OF Lastings Milledge played three with the Hillcats this season and went a combined 3-for-12 (.250) with a double, two home runs, four RBI, three runs scored and a walk...He was the number one overall prospect in the New York Mets organization (2005 and 2006) and was traded to the Pirates from the Nationals on June 30th along with RHP Joel Hanrahan for former Hillcats OF Nyjer Morgan and LHP Sean Burnett...In his final game donning the Green & Gold he homered twice...
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