Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on May 1, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (13-8) vs. KINSTON INDIANS (11-10)
May 1st, 2009 -- 7:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Matt McSwain (0-1, 5.63) vs. LHP Russell Young (0-0, 0.00)
THE HILLCATS: On Wednesday night Lynchburg fell to Myrtle Beach 4-1 in the final game of a three-game series and seven-game road trip...The Hillcats are still two games up on Potomac for first place in the Northern Division and still have the best record in the league...Tonight is the first game of a three-game series with Kinston and the first contest of a seven-game homestand...
VS. KINSTON: The Hillcats began the season series against the Indians last week at Kinston and split a four-game series at Grainger Stadium...Last season the Indians won the series against the Hillcats 12-7 and were 6-4 against Lynchburg at City Stadium...Lynchburg leads Kinston in the all-time series by the slightest of margins, 140-139...Lynchburg is 78-58 in the Hill City...
SOUTHERN SWING: The Hillcats finished their seven-game road trip to Kinston and Myrtle Beach with a 4-3 record...Lynchburg's record against the Southern Divison to 7-4 entering this three-game series...Now Kinston and Myrtle Beach come to Lynchburg for the seven-game homestand that starts tonight...
IF YOU'RE NOT FIRST, YOU'RE LAST: The Cats entered today in first place in the Northern Division with a two game lead over Potomac...Lynchburg has only been out of first place for one day thus far this year...
MANUFACTURING: The Hillcats went over .500 and averaged a respectable 4.7 runs per game on their seven-game road trip despite batting just .226 as a team on the swing...
PICKED UP BY THE PEN: The win on Monday night by the Hillcats bullpen was the eighth win of the season by the Cats relievers...They are also nine for eleven in save opportunities, including their save last night...The pen is posting an 8-1 mark, while the starters have a 5-7 record...
CONSTANT CONTRIBUTOR: INF Ray Chang had an excellent road trip, going 8-for-21(.381) with a double, two RBI and five runs scored...He finished the trip with back-to-back multi-hit games and is currently riding a six-game hit streak, the longest active streak on the team...Chang has gotten at least one hit in nine of the eleven games he has played in this season...
EXTRA WATTAGE: C Kris Watts continued his outstanding start to the season with a great road trip, going 8-for-20 (.400) with a home run, six RBI and two runs scored in six games...Despite the successful trip he dropped his average from .471 to .444...On he season he is 24-for-54 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 12 RBI, 12 runs scored and 12 walks...He is first in the league in batting and on-base percentage (.565), and second in slugging percentage (.685)...Amongst all of minor league baseball he is third in average and first in on-base percentage...
RIGHTING THE SHIP: RHP Harrison Bishop threw three scoreless innings of relief on Wednesday night and struckout three as well...Bishop has now worked two consecutive outings without allowing a run (five innings)...The right-hander allowed at least one earned run in all of his first four appearances...His ERA has dropped from 9.00 to 5.79 in his last two games...Last year Bishop went 5-2 with a 3.23 earned run average for Low-A Hickory in 29 appearances in relief with the Crawdads...
PLAYING THE STAR AGAIN: 3B Pedro Alvarez smacked his fourth home run of the season in the top of the seventh inning to give the Hillcats the lead for good on Monday night...Three of his home runs have given the Hillcats the lead and the other tied the game with the Cats down to their final out in the ninth inning...Of his three go-ahead blasts, two were game winners and one was a walk-off long ball...
AUTOMATIC: This season RHP R.J. Rodriguez is 7-for-7 in save opportunities, including picking up the save in Monday night's 5-4 victory...In his last seven outings Rodriguez has six saves and a win and has not allowed a run...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Russell Young was selected in the 28th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft by the Indians out of Dartmouth College...His final year with the Big Green he made nine starts and 5-4 with a 4.55 ERA...He was primarily a starter all four years at the Ivy League school...He began his professional career last season with Short Season Low-A Mahoning Valley and went 6-3 with a 3.37 ERA in 15 starts...This season he began the season with Low-A Lake County and was 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA in four games (two starts) before his promotion to Kinston...Tonight Young will make his Advanced-A debut and his first start against the Hillcats...
Carolina League Stories from May 1, 2009
- Valorous Valdez Blasts P-Nats to Walk-off Victory - Potomac Nationals
- Rocks come back for the win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Lynchburg homers three times in win - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Locke shuts down Sox as Birds roll - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Blue Rocks Bullpen Silences Dash in Opener - Winston-Salem Dash
- Lynchburg Hands Kinston an 8-3 loss... - Kinston Indians
- Pelicans Locked In, Blank Sox 2-0 - Salem RidgeYaks
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Joe Beimel Added to Potomac Roster - Potomac Nationals
- Blue Crew Splits Double Dip - Wilmington Blue Rocks
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