CarL1 Hill City Howlers

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on April 21, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (5-6) @ SALEM RED SOX (8-3)

April 21st, 2010 -- 5:30 PM @ Salem Memorial Ballpark

Game One: RHP Curtis Partch (1-1, 1.80) vs. LHP Fabian Williamson (2-0, 0.90)

Game Two: RHP Brad Boxberger (1-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Caleb Clay (1-0, 4.00)

THE HILLCATS: Last night game two of the Hillcats four-game series with the Red Sox was rained out...On Monday night the Hillcats pounded the Red Sox 9-5 in the series opener of the set at Salem...Lynchburg is now 2-2 on their current stretch of 13 in a row on the road...Tonight is the second and third game of a four-game series at Salem and games five and six of the longest set of consecutive road games in 2010...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 2-2 against the Red Sox thus far this season after their game one win Monday night...The Cats went 10-10 against the Sox in the 460 series last season and were 5-5 at Lewis Gale Field...In the post-season the Cats swept the Sox three games to none in the Mills Cup Championship...In the all-time series Salem leads 157-139 during the regular season, and they are 89-59 at home...

FAMILIAR FOES: Last night Lynchburg began a four-game series at Salem...The Hillcats are playing the same two teams over the course of the first 14 games of the season (Frederick and Salem)...

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE THE ROAD: The Hillcats offense scored a season-high nine runs and smacked a season-best 17 hits in their win Monday night...In the first four games of this extended stretch on the road the Cats are batting .348 (54-for-155), averaging six runs per game (24 runs in four games) with 18 extra-base hits...They have raised their team batting average from .229 to .279...In Lynchburg's first seven games of the season at City Stadium they were were averaging just 2.4 run per game (17 runs in seven games) with 13 extra-base hits...

FIELDING WOES: This season the Hillcats have committed 15 errors in 11 games played...UTIL Neftali Soto has committed three errors in the last two games (two at first and one behind the plate) that have led to three unearned runs...Lynchburg's .964 fielding percentage is second to last in the Carolina League and they have had at least one error in eight straight games...

SOX SLAYER: INF Jose Gualdron went 3-for-5 with an RBI in Monday night's win...In three games against Salem this season he is 6-for-12 (.500) with three doubles, an RBI and three runs scored...Monday night his RBI single in the fifth inning gave the Hillcats the lead for good...

IN SHORT: SS Miguel Rojas is 10-for-19 (.526) with two RBI, six runs scored, two walks and five steals in his last five games to put his average at .393 (11-for-28), which is currently third in the Carolina League...At one point he went 7-for-9 and reached base safely in nine of 11 plate appearances...

PROVING HIS WORTH: C Devin Mesoraco went 5-for-13 (.385) with a double, two homers, three RBI, two runs scored and a walk in the series at Frederick last weekend...He is now batting .323 (10-for-31) after ten games with the Hillcats after he batted .228 at this level with the Sarasota Reds last season...The 21-year old catcher was given a 1.4 million dollar signing bonus when he was taken with the 15th overall pick in the 2007 draft...

BLIP ON THE RADAR: INF Carlos Mendez missed Sundays game with a sore hamstring...The infielder left Saturdays game and then missed his first game of the season yesterday...Monday night he went 1-for-5 with a run scored to extend his hitting streak to ten games...Mendez has hit in every game he has played in this season...Last season he batted .308, which was fifth in the Midwest League and third in the Reds minor league system...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHERS: In game one the Red Sox will throw LHP Fabian Williamson who was acquired by the Red Sox last year in a trade with the Seattle Mariners...He first pitched professionally in 2007 with the AZL Mariners where he went 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA in 14 games (12 starts)...He also made one start with Low-A Wisconsin and he took a no-decision and did not allow a run in six innings...In 2008 he threw for Rookie Pulaski in the Appalachian League and posted a 4-3 mark with a 4.10 ERA in 11 starts...Last season was his first in the Red Sox system and he had a 10-5 record with a 2.42 ERA with the Low-A Greenville Drive...In two starts this season with Salem he has gone 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA...His last outing was against Lynchburg and he did not allow a run in five innings of work to earn the win last Thursday...In game two it will be RHP Caleb Clay was selected by Boston in the supplemental first round of the 2006 draft straight out of high school in Alabama...He made his professional debut in 2007 with the Short Season Low-A Lowell Spinners and went 1-0 with a 2.14 ERA in five starts...He suffered an injury that season and had to have Tommy John surgery that kept him out for most of 2008...He did make two starts with the GCL Red Sox and he did not allow a run in two and 2/3 innings of work...Last season he pitched for full season Low-A Greenville and went 6-7 with a 4.01 ERA in 25 games (16 starts) for the Drive...This year he has progressed to Advanced-A and with Salem has gone 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA and one save thus far in two games (one start)...Tonight will be his first start against Lynchburg...

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