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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

August 27, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (24-35, 69-59) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (38-20, 76-51)

August 27th, 2009 -- 7:05 PM

Lynchburg City Stadium @ Lynchburg City Stadium

LHP Justin Wilson (6-7, 4.33) vs. RHP Alex Caldera (4-10, 5.51)

THE HILLCATS: Wilmington outlasted Lynchburg 5-3 last night in 11 innings at City Stadium...The Hillcats have now lost the first three games of the four-game series...The Hillcats are at the tail end of 14 out of 17 games at Calvin Falwell Field...They are 6-10 over that time thus far...Tonight they play the final contest of their set with the Blue Rocks...This series will close out an eight-game homestand for the Cats...

VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 5-14 against the Blue Rocks this season, 3-6 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 176-121 and they are 84-63 at City Stadium...Lynchburg was 4-3 in the series this year, but the Rocks have won 11 out of 12 since and the last eight games...

HOME WOES: Lynchburg has lost three in a row and five out of six at City Stadium...After starting the season 23-7 at Calvin Falwell Field, they have gone 12-23 since...Oddly enough, the Hillcats have won five of their last six contest on the road...

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 24-6 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...After their win last night, the Rocks have now won five straight and nine of their last ten games...If Wilmington grabs the other playoff spot they will meet Lynchburg in the divisional series...

SLIPPING AWAY: Entering the eighth inning last night, Lynchburg led by a run before allowing a pair if runs to score in the top of the inning...The Hillcats have relinquished an advantage in the last two games against Wilmington...In the first half of the season the Cats only lost after leading nine times in 69 games...In the second half they have blown a lead 23 times in 59 contests...They also came back to win 23 times in the first half and have only rallied to win 12 times in the second part of the campaign thus far...

TIMING IS EVERYTHING: Last night Lynchburg went 1-for-8 with men in scoring position last night...They are now 5-for-38 (.132) in this series...In the second half of the season Lynchburg is batting 17 points higher than they did in the first half of the season (.263, .246 in the first) to raise their overall batting average to .254 (fifth in the Carolina League)...However, after batting .267 with men in scoring position in the first half, they are hitting just .236 with RISP in the second...

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...

START ME UP: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 1-for-5 with a triple and a run scored...The former fourth rounder has now hit in nine straight games, matching his longest hitting streak of the season...Over the last nine contest he is batting .333 (12-for-36) with four doubles, two triples, an RBI, 10 runs scored, four walks and two steals...

STARTING TO POP: 1B Matt Hague went 2-for-5 last night and extended his current hitting-streak to six games...On Monday night he smacked his sixth home run of the season...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 six games played he is 11-for-24 (.458) with four doubles, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored...Hague is third in the Carolina League with his .292 batting average...

MIGHTY MERCER: INF Jordy Mercer went 1-for-5 last night and has now hit in five straight games...He has hit in 14 of his last 15 games and over that time he is batting .333 (19-for-57) with four doubles, a homer, ten RBI, eight runs scored, six walks and two stolen bases...He is batting .314 (27-for-86) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer leads the Hillcats with 71 RBI and is second in the league with 34 doubles...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Alex Caldera was drafted in the 13th round of the 2007 draft by the Royals out of the University of California-Irvine...He made his debut at the Rookie League level that year with the Burlington Royals and went 1-2 with a 3.40 ERA and two saves in 12 games (seven starts)...He advanced to Low-A with the Burlington Bees and posted a 12-6 record with a 2.90 ERA in 25 starts...Caldera began this season with Wilmington and has gone 4-10 with a 5.51 earned run average in 24 starts...He has made four starts against the Hillcats this season and has gone 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA (10 earned runs in 23 innings)...

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