Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
September 7, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (28-41, 73-65) vs. SALEM RED SOX (34-35, 66-72)
September 7th, 2009 -- 2:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Matt McSwain (11-8, 3.48) vs. RHP Stephen Fife (3-2, 4.53)
THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg blanked Salem 1-0 last night at City Stadium in the third of four games in a row between the two teams...Tonight the Hillcats play the second of two straight against the Red Sox at City Stadium and the last game of the regular season...
VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 10-9 against the Red Sox in the 460 series this season and are 5-4 at Calvin Falwell Field...Last season the Cats won the season series against Salem, then the Avalanche and an affiliate of the Houston Astros, by a count of 12-8...Salem was the only team in the Carolina League that the Hillcats had a winning record against last season...In the all-time series Salem leads 154-137, but they are 65-79 in the Hill City...
ATTENDANCE TOPPING: With an announced attendance of over 521 fans today the Hillcats will break their attendance mark from a season ago...The crowd of 4,070 fans last night pushed the attendance for the year over 160,000 for the third straight season...The Cats have drawn more than 148,000 every season since the renovation of City Stadium was completed in 2004...This year's attendance is 2,803 short of the all-time mark of 164,413, with three guaranteed openings remaining...
ALL BUT THE ROCKS: The victory last night for Lynchburg was their 10th this season against Salem, ensuring the Hillcats of a .500 or better record against the Red Sox...That also means that Wilmington will be the only team with a winning record against the Cats in the 2009 season...The Blue Rocks are 15-5 versus Lynchburg, have won nine straight and have taken 12 of the last 13 contests...Unfortunately, the Rocks are the Cats opponent in the upcoming Northern Division Championship Series that begins at City Stadium on Wednesday night...
IT'S A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT: Lynchburg scored their only run last night in the bottom of the first inning...On Saturday night they plated six runs through four innings and did not score a run the rest of the game...In the last six games the Hillcats have scored 17 runs combined in the first three innings of play, but have not scored a single run in the last three...
FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM: Over the last nine games Lynchburg has collected 11 sacrifice hits (six sacrifice flies and five bunts)...All six of the sac flies have come off the bat of INF Jordy Mercer, who leads the team with 14 sac flies and 17 sac hits on the season...He now has six sac flies in his last eight games played...The Hillcats have 98 sacrifice hits on the season, second most in the Carolina League...Their 52 sac flies are the most in the circuit...
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Last night the Hillcats were hit by a pitch again and have now been plunked nine times in the last four games...On the season Lynchburg has been hit by a pitch 97 times, the most of any team in the Carolina League...The next closest in the circuit is Winston-Salem with 70...
LOCKED IN: LHP Jeff Locke tossed six and 2/3 scoreless innings last night to earn his fifth win of the season and his fourth win for the Hillcats...In his last eight starts the southpaw is 3-0 with a 2.58 ERA (13 earned runs in 45 and 1/3 innings)...In those eight appearances Locke has allowed one run or less six times...His start a night ago was his first outing this season with Lynchburg that he didn't allow a run...
LIKE RIDING A BIKE: RHP Ronald Uviedo earned his third save of the season last night by throwing two and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief...He inherited and stranded the potential tying run on second base in the seventh inning, the first runner he has inherited this season...It was the 31st save of Uviedo's career...Of the right-handers 139 games pitched, 109 of them have been in relief...
GETTIN' ON AND GETTIN' IN: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 1-for-4 last night with a double and a run scored...He has now scored 30 runs in his last 29 contests and has a .431 OBP (57-for-130) in those games...On the recent road stretch he went a combined 13-for-29 (.448) with four doubles, a homer, three RBI and 11 runs scored in eight games...He has hit in 25 of his last 29 games he is batting .342 (40-for-117) over that time...The infielder was also recently chosen as one of the six representatives of the Pirates in the prestigious Arizona Fall League this off-season...
DRIVING 'EM IN: INF Jordy Mercer went 1-for-3 last night with an RBI...He has driven in 22 runs in his last 23 games played and brought home a run in eight straight games (12 in those contests)...He has hit in 20 of his last 23 games and over that time he is batting .307 (27-for-88) with five doubles, three homers, 22 RBI, 11 runs scored, seven walks and two stolen bases...He is batting .299 (35-for-117) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer leads the Hillcats and is fifth in the Carolina League with 83 RBI, and he is tied for first in the league with 35 doubles...
TODAY'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Stephen Fife was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2008 draft out of the University of Utah...His final season with the Utes he went 7-5 with a 3.72 ERA in 14 starts...He made his professional debut last year with Short-Season Low-A Lowell, where he went 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA and two saves in 14 relief appearances...He began this season with full-season Low-A Greenville and had an 0-3 mark with a 2.70 ERA in eight starts with the Drive before earning a promotion to Advanced-A...Fife has made nine starts with Salem and has gone 3-2 with a 4.23 ERA...Today will be his first start against Lynchburg...
Carolina League Stories from September 7, 2009
- Morel's Homer Puts Finale Out Of Reach For Pelicans - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Salem Strides To Playoffs with 6-5 Comeback Win - Salem Red Sox
- Morel powers Dash past Pelicans in regular season finale - Winston-Salem Dash
- Red Sox clinch playoff berth, Game 3 to be held in Salem Friday - Salem Red Sox
- Hannah's benefit a smashing success - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Salem tops Cats in series finale - Lynchburg Hillcats
- P-Nats Plate Eight Late to K.O. K-Tribe - Potomac Nationals
- Rocks Close Regular Season in Style with Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- K-Tribe Season Comes To An End With a 9-4 Loss at Potomac - Kinston Indians
- Keys Shutout in Finale - Frederick Keys
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
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