CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes- May 2

Published on May 2, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS: Last night Lynchburg smacked out a 7-2 win over Potomac and they have now taken the first two games of this three-game set at City Stadium...Today the Hillcats continue a 10-game homestand with the final game of their series against Potomac with a chance for their first series sweep of the season...The Cats enter today two games back of first place Frederick in the Northern Division...

VS. POTOMAC: The Hillcats are 3-2 against the Nationals thus far this season after they dropped the series at Pfitzner Stadium last weekend and have now won the first two games of this series...Lynchburg is 157-147 against Potomac all-time and are 85-71 in the Hill City...Last season the Cats won the season series with the P-Nats 11-9 and were 5-5 at the Pfitz...

STARTING TO COME TOGETHER, PEPPER: Last night Lynchburg won the middle-game of their three-game series with Potomac and they have now taken the first two games of the set...The Hillcats have won three in a row for the first time this season, won four out of their last five games and they have won back-to-back series now after starting the season winless in their first five sets...

BACK WITH A BANG: The Hillcats returned home after a 13-game road swing last night and won the first two games of this series by a combined score of 15-4 over the Nationals...They started Friday night's game with their biggest offensive inning of the season...The first five Cats got a hit and the first seven reached safely...Lynchburg had a season-high six runs and a season best seven hits in the inning...It was also the first time this season they have batted around in a frame...The victory last night marked the third time this season the Hillcats have won by five runs or more, all three games were against Potomac...

SWEET START: After their win last night, the Hillcats are now 6-1 in series openers this season and have won five in a row after dropping their second game one contest of the season...Last season Lynchburg also started the season 6-1 in series openers, and in fact started the season an astounding 18-1 in the first game of a series and they won 17 in a row after losing their second game one of the campaign...In comparison, last year the Cats were 13-8 after 21 games, this season they are 9-12...This year's squad is still just 3-11 in all games after the series opener...

STRIVING FOR PERFECTION: The Hillcats defense did not commit an error in the 7-2 win over the Nationals...It marked the sixth straight game the Cats did not make an error...To start the season Lynchburg had 21 errors through their first 13 games, which was at the time the most in the Carolina League and their .956 fielding percentage was last as well...Since they committed a season-high four errors on April 21 to give them at least one error in ten straight games and in 12 of their first 13, the Hillcats have just two errors in their last nine games played...Their 23 errors are the third fewest in the CL and their .972 fielding percentage is tied for second in the circuit...

SWATTING SOTO: UTIL Neftali Soto went 4-for-4 last night with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored...It was the first four-hit game of the season by a Hillcat, the first multi-homer game and it matched the most RBI and runs scored by a Cat in a game this year...It was the first time since Soto's second game of the season in 2008 with Rookie Billings that he had a multi-homer contest...He entered last night with just one home run and four extra-base hits on the season...

BOUNCE BACK BOWMAN: LHP Andrew Bowman worked two and 2/3 scoreless innings of relief last to earn his first win of the season...He entered the game with men on second and third and one out in a tie game in the sixth inning and escaped that jam without allowing a run...The last time Bowman pitched was on Wednesday at Kinston...He came into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with Lynchburg lead in 2-0 and allowed the first three he faced to reach... He would get charged with three runs, a blown save and a loss...

DO IT ALL DEVIN: C Devin Mesoraco went 2-for-4 last night with a run scored...His homer Friday night was his team leading fifth of the season and he is now tied for fifth in the Carolina League...He also leads the team with 14 RBI...On Thursday night at Kinston he laid down his first bunt single of the season and stole his first two bags of the campaign...He did not steal a base all of last year...He also absorbed a crushing blow by an Indians runner trying to score and held on to the ball for the out to keep it a 3-2 lead for the Hillcats in the fifth inning...

TODAY'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Patrick Lehman was selected by Washington in the 13th round of the 2009 draft out of George Washington University...His final year with the Colonials he went 7-4 with a 2.40 ERA in 1 starts his junior season...He made his professional debut last season with Short Season Low-A Vermont and had a 3-1 mark with a 1.65 ERA in seven games (three starts)...He finished the year with full season Low-A Hagerstown where he had a 1-1 record with a 2.25 ERA in six starts for the Suns...This season he began with Potomac and has gone 0-0 with a 6.16 ERA in four starts...This will be his first start against Lynchburg today...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 2, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central