Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on May 17, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (22-13) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (17-18)
May 17th, 2009 -- 2:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Matt McSwain (2-1, 4.86) vs. RHP Mario Santiago (1-3, 5.46)
THE HILLCATS: Wilmington won 6-5 in the middle-game of this three-game series at Lynchburg...The Hillcats still have sole possession of first place in the Northern Division and have the best record in the circuit thanks to Potomac's loss last night...Tonight is the final game of a three-game set against Wilmington...The current three-game homestand is sandwiched between 13 road contests for the Cats...After last night's game, Lynchburg is now halfway through the first half of the season...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats lost two out of three games in a three-game series at Wilmington in mid-May...The Blue Rocks took the rubber game with a 10-inning 8-7 victory...Last season the Rocks topped the Cats in the season series 11-9 and were 5-5 at City Stadium...Wilmington has the all-time advantage over Lynchburg 165-118 and they are 79-61 in the Hill City...
RUBBER MATCH REMATCH: Lynchburg and Wilmington will play their second rubber match of the season today...The Blue Rocks won the first deciding game of a series at Frawley Stadium with an 8-7 win in ten innings...The Hillcats are 2-2 in rubber matches this season, including a win on Thursday at Winston-Salem...
ROLE REVERSAL: After the Hillcats won game one of the series with a comeback win on Friday, the Blue Rocks had their own come from behind victory last night...Lynchburg cam from three runs down to win 6-5 in 10 innings, while Wilmington came from four runs down to win 6-5...The biggest blown lead of the season for the Cats was against the Rocks at Frawley Stadium on April 19th when they relinquished a five run advantage...Last night Lynchburg also dropped to 15-3 when leading after five innings of play...
CLOSE CALLS: Last night was the 12th one-run game of the season for Lynchburg...The Hillcats are now 9-3 in games decided by a run and 14-8 in contests decided by three runs or less...
MUDDIED IN THE MIDDLE: While the Hillcats are 10-1 in series openers this season...They are just 3-5 in the middle-game of a three-game series...Thus far this year they are 5-4 in series finales...
RARE LETDOWN: The bullpen could not hold onto a three-run lead they were handed in the seventh inning last night...After scoring a run in the sixth off of starter Paul Mildren, Wilmington scored two more in the seventh, another in the eighth to tie the game and one more run in the ninth to take the lead for good...The bullpen for Lynchburg still is 13-4 mark with a 3.56 ERA with 11 saves in 15 chances this season...Over the past ten games previous to last night the bullpen had gone 5-1 with a 1.41 ERA (six earned runs in 38 and 1/3 innings) and two saves...In 2008 the bullpen went 23-25 with a 5.21 ERA and was 31-for-51 in save opportunities...RHP Dustin Molleken has not allowed a run in his last six outings (13 innings) and RHP Michael Dubee has not allowed a run in his last nine appearances (10 and 2/3 innings) and has gone 1-0 with two saves over that stretch...
WHAT A WASTE: LHP Paul Mildren had his best start of the season last night for Lynchburg...He went a season-long six innings, allowed just two runs and struck out three...He left in line for his second win of the season before the bullpen lost the lead...His quality start yesterday was his first and the fourth of the season for the Hillcats...
RUN-AROUND: INF Jose De Los Santos scored three runs in the Hillcats 6-5 loss last night...It matched the most runs scored by a Hillcat in a game this season and it was the third time this year he has come across three times in one game...In 19 games played this season De Los Santos has scored 22 times...That number leads the team despite the fact that he has missed 16 games this season...
MORE PRESSURE PLEASE: RHP R.J. Rodriguez leads the Hillcats and is second in the league with seven saves...When pitching with a save opportunity this season he is 7-for-7 in saves and has not allowed a run in six and 1/3 innings...In his eight other appearances though, he has pitched eight innings and allowed seven runs for an ERA of 7.88...Last night it was not a save situation and he allowed the game-winning run in the top of the tenth inning...He has not had a chance for a save since April 27th...
TODAY'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Mario Santiago was selected in the 16th round selection in the 2005 draft by the Royals...His second year as a professional in 2007 he was promoted to Low-A Burlington mid-season and went 3-5 with a 5.43 ERA in 12 games (eight games)...He spent all of last season with the Blue Rocks and went 8-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 27 starts...This season he has gone 1-3 with a 5.46 ERA with Wilmington...Last season the righty made three starts against Lynchburg and went 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA...Santiago made one start against the Hillcats this season and allowed four runs in four and 2/3 innings in a loss...
Carolina League Stories from May 17, 2009
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- Potomac Nationals Game Notes 5.17.09 - Potomac Nationals
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- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Hill City Howlers
- Game-Winning Hit Caps Giavotella's Breakout Night - Wilmington Blue Rocks
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