Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
April 10, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (1-0) vs. FREDERICK KEYS (0-1)
April 9th, 2010 -- 6:05 PM @ Lynchburg City Stadium
Game One: RHP Curtis Partch (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Ryan O'Shea (0-0, 0.00)
Game Two: RHP Brad Boxberger (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Nate Nery (0-0, 0.00)
THE HILLCATS: Last night the Hillcats kicked off their campaign with a 3-1 victory over the Frederick Keys at City Stadium...Tonight the Cats and Keys play a doubleheader that will be the second and third games of a four-game series with Frederick and of a seven-game homestand for the Cats...Thursday night's game was postponed due to rain forcing the twin bill this evening...
VS. FREDERICK: The Hillcats went 14-5 versus the Keys last season were 7-2 at City Stadium...Lynchburg holds the all-time advantage 159-135 and they are 83-66 at Calvin Falwell Field after their win last night...The Hillcats won five of the six series versus the Keys last season and tied the other...The Cats record against the Keys was their best against any opponent in the Carolina League at home, on the road and overall...Seven of the Hillcats first ten games are against Frederick...
RAINING CATS AND KEYS: Thursday night's series opener was postponed due to rain and was rescheduled as part of the doubleheader tonight...This is the second straight year the first game between these two teams was rained out...Last season they had three games postponed due to the weather (one of which was canceled), two that were delayed due to rain and one that was suspended...Their canceled contest on June 11th was the only scheduled game all season the Hillcats did not play...They also had a rain shortened contest at The Grove on June 3rd when Lynchburg earned a 7-6 victory in five and a half innings of play...
THE REDS SEEING GREEN: Last night was the first game of the Hillcats affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds...The relationship began on the right foot with Lynchburg earning the victory in the 2010 season opener...
NEW LEAF: Last night C Devin Mesoraco went 2-for-2 with an RBI, a run and a walk in the Hillcats win...In 2009 Mesoraco batted just .228 in 92 games while battling a series of injuries...The former first round draft pick in 2007 (15th overall selection) .240 career batting average in three seasons in the minors...
WHERE HE LEFT OFF: LHP Matt Fairel tossed five and 1/3 scoreless innings last night to pick-up the victory on Opening Night for Lynchburg...He ended last season with 20 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings while pitching for the Sarasota Reds...The lefty now sits at 26 consecutive scoreless innings and in his last three starts he is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA (20 innings)...
THURMINATOR: LHP Mace Thurman worked a scoreless ninth inning last night to earn his first save of the season...Last season the lefty finished the seaso with Advanced-A Sarasota where he posted a 1.10 ERA in 30 games and was eight-for-ten in save situations...
NEW KIDS IN TOWN: This season the Hillcats are the minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds for the first time ever...It is the first season since 1994 that the Cats have not been affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates...The Reds are the tenth different Major League team that has been the parent club to Lynchburg...Over the last 34 seasons Lynchburg has only has only been affiliated with three different teams (New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates)...None of the players on the Hillcats roster have ever played in the Carolina League...
BEST OF THE REDLEGS: Seven members of the Hillcats are ranked amongst the top 30 prospects in the Reds organization prior to the season according to Baseball America...That list includes RHP Brad Boxberger (9), UTIL Neftali Soto (13), SS Miguel Rojas (17), RHP Mark Serrano (24), OF Josh Fellhauer (26), INF Cody Puckett (28) and C Devin Mesoraco (30)...
POINTING THE WAY: The Hillcats new coaching staff is led by Manager Pat Kelly, who is managing his 15th team in 21 years of managing experience...Kelly, a former professional catcher who spent time at the Major League level, is also serving as the Minor League Catching Coordinator for the Reds this season...Pitching Coach Rigo Beltran is in his fourth season in the Reds organization this year and Hitting Coach Tony Jaramillo is entering his third season in the Cincinnati system...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHERS: RHP Ryan O'Shea will get the nod in Game One and he was selected by the Orioles in the 27th round of the 2008 amateur entry draft out of the University of New Orleans...In 2008 he made his professional debut with Short-Season Low-A Aberdeen and went 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA and three saves in 16 games in relief...Last season he played full season with Low-A Delmarva and posted an 8-8 mark with a 3.60 ERA...Tonight he makes his 2010 debut...In Game Two LHP Nate Nery will take the hill for the Keys...Nery was an 18th round selection of Baltimore in 2006 out of Stetson University...His junior and final season with the Hatters he went 7-5 with a 4.53 ERA in 26 games (12 starts)...That same year he made his professional debut with Short-Season Low-A Aberdeen and posted 3-4 record with a 5.17 earned run average with 14 games (nine starts)...He returned to the IronBirds in 2007 and went 5-4 mark with a 4.08 ERA in 22 games (eight starts)...In 2008 he advanced to full season Low-A and had a 7-3 record with a 3.39 ERA in 15 starts with Delmarva...He was again with the Shorebirds to start last season and was 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five games (four starts) before getting the call-up to Frederick...With the Keys last year he went 4-5 with a 5.00 ERA...He made four starts against Lynchburg and went 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA...
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