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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

August 25, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (24-33, 69-57) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (36-20, 74-51)

August 25th, 2009 -- 7:05 PM

Lynchburg City Stadium @ Lynchburg City Stadium

RHP Ronald Uviedo (5-5, 3.53) vs. LHP Danny Duffy (8-3, 3.22)

THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg lost 7-3 in their series opener with Wilmington last night at City Stadium...The Hillcats are at the tail end of 14 out of 17 games at Calvin Falwell Field...They are 6-8 over that time thus far...Tonight they play game two of a four-game series with the Blue Rocks after splitting a four-game set with Winston-Salem...This series will close out an eight-game homestand for the Cats...

VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 5-12 against the Blue Rocks this season, 3-4 at City Stadium and 2-8 at Frawley Stadium...Wilmington is the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus the Hillcats this season...Last season the Rocks topped the Cats in the season series 11-9 and were 6-4 at home...Wilmington has the all-time advantage over Lynchburg 174-121 and they are 82-63 at City Stadium...Lynchburg was 4-3 in the series this year, but the Rocks have won nine out of ten games since and the last six...

SET 'EM OFF: The last time the Hillcats and Blue Rocks met Wilmington swept Lynchburg at Frawley Stadium...The Rocks entered that series having won two in a row and went on to win 12 straight contests before their next loss...That was part of a stretch in which Wilmington won 15 out of 16 games...Since July 25th, the Blue Crew is 22-6 and they currently enjoy a two and a half game lead over Potomac for first place in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the Northern Division...If Wilmington grabs the other playoff spot they will meet Lynchburg in the divisional series...

ALL ABOUT TIMING: In the second half of the season Lynchburg is batting 18 points higher than they did in the first half of the season (.264, .246 in the first) to raise their overall batting average to .255 (fourth in the Carolina League)...However, after batting .267 with men in scoring position in the first half, they are hitting just .242 with RISP in the second...In the opening half of the season the Hillcats had 1.9 two-out RBI per game, in the second they have 1.4 per contest...After scoring 5.1 runs per contest in the first half of the campaign, they have scored 4.2 runs per game thus far in the second part of the season...

CHANCE TO CLINCH AGAIN: One more win this season will ensure a winning record for the Hillcats in 2009...It would mark the first time since 2005 (78-62) that Lynchburg would post an over .500 record...Prior to this season the Cats have had a winning record four times in their 14 seasons played...They have already secured their sixth playoff appearance since the team began play in 1995...

STUMBLES AT THE START: With their game one loss last night, the Hillcats have gone 5-17 in series openers since opening the season 18-1 in game one contests...They have lost four of their last five series openers...

NO NEED TO PRESS: OF Alex Presley went 2-for-4 last night with a run scored and extended his hitting streak to eight games...Over that time he is 11-for-29 (.379) with a double, a homer, three RBI and five runs scored...He is batting .309 in August and batted .280 in July...This after he hit just .165 in June...Over that time he has raised his average from .229 to .254...

LONG AWAITED: 1B Matt Hague smacked his sixth home run of the season last night...He had gone 39 games and 151 at-bats without a long ball...That was his longest drought of the season and of his career...He went homerless in his first 30 games of the season as well...In his last four games played he is 7-for-15 (.467) with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored...Hague is tied for fifth in the Carolina League with his .289 batting average...

MIGHTY MERCER: INF Jordy Mercer went a combined 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI, two runs scored, two walks and a stolen base on Sunday night in the doubleheader...He has hit in 12 of his last 13 games and over that time he is batting .340 (16-for-47) with four doubles, a homer, nine RBI, eight runs scored, six walks and two stolen bases...He is batting .312 (24-for-77) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer leads the Hillcats with 70 RBI and is second in the league with 34 doubles...

RUSTED ROMAK: Since returning from the Disabled List on August 11th, OF Jamie Romak has batted .163 (8-for-49) with 20 strikeouts in 13 games played...In his last five games he is 1-for-20 (.050)...When he went on the Disabled List on July 16th he was 1-for-17 in his last four games, so in his last 17 games played Romak is 2-for-37 (.054)...The former Atlanta Braves farmhand has spent parts of three season with Lynchburg and his 36 home runs as a Hillcat sits three homers shy of Josh Bonifay for the most homers in team history...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Danny Duffy was selected in the 3rd round of the 2007 Amateur Entry Draft by Kansas City out of Cabrillo high school in California...He began his Royals career with the Arizona Royals that fall and went 2-3 with a 1.45 ERA in 11 games (nine starts)...He pitched the next season in 2008 with full-season Low-A Burlington and went 8-4 with a 2.20 ERA in 17 starts for the Bees...That year he struck out 102 batters in 81 and 2/3 innings...This year he advanced to High-A with Wilmington and has posted a 8-3 record with a 3.22 earned run average in 21 starts...Duffy was ranked as the sixth best prospect in the Royals minor league organization prior to the season by Baseball America...The lefty has made four starts against Lynchburg, with no-decisions and a 2.50 ERA (five earned run in 18 innings)...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics



Carolina League Stories from August 25, 2009


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