Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on May 10, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (14-16) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (11-19)
May 10th, 2010 -- 6:35 PM
Judy Johnson Field @ Daniel S. Frawley Stadium
LHP Matt Fairel (3-0, 3.48) vs. RHP Manauris Baez (1-1, 4.43)
THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg fell in the deciding game of a three-game series with Myrtle Beach yesterday by a final of 2-1...The Hillcats concluded their ten-game homestand yesterday with a 6-4 mark...Tonight is the first game of a four-game series at Wilmington...They enter today four games back of first place Frederick in the Northern Division...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats went 5-15 against the Blue Rocks during the regular season last year, 3-7 at City Stadium and 2-8 at Frawley Stadium...Wilmington was the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus the Hillcats last season...In the post-season though, the Cats topped the Rocks three-games-to-two in a best of five series to win the Northern Division Championship and advance to the Mills Cup...Wilmington has the all-time advantage over Lynchburg 179-124 and they are 93-59 at Frawley Stadium...Lynchburg lost 12 out of their last 13 and the last nine games to close out the regular season series last year before taking down Wilmington in the post-season...
THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM, BUT THE SECOND MOUSE CATCHES THE CHEESE: With their loss yesterday, the Hillcats fell to 1-8 in series finales and 1-4 in rubber matches...At the same time though, they are 8-1 in series openers this season and have won seven in a row after dropping their second game one contest of the season...At the same time though, they are 1-7 in series finales and 1-3 in rubber matches this year...After the first game of the series, the Cats are 6-15...Last season Lynchburg also started the season 8-1 in series openers, and in fact started the season an astounding 18-1 in the first game of a series and they won 17 in a row after losing their second game one of the campaign...
SPARKLING SERRANO: RHP Mark Serrano matched his career-high yesterday with seven innings of work, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out nine in taking a no-decision...His seven-inning effort matched the longest start by a Hillcat this season and his nine punch-outs are the most by a Cats hurler this season...
CARDINAL SIN: In the eighth inning yesterday RHP Justin Freeman walked the ninth batter in the line-up, SS Ryan Barba, with two outs and nobody on with the gmae tied at one...The next batter, OF Cole Miles, tripled in Barba to give the Pelicans the lead for good...Barba entered the game batting .164 and he was 0-for-10 in the series against the Hillcats when the walk was issued...
A-TYPICAL: 1B Carlos Mendez went 2-for-3 yesterday with his third straight multi-hit game...Over those three contests he is 6-for-12 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored...Over a longer stretch of the last nine games he is batting .371 (13-for-35) with three doubles, six runs scored and an RBI...Mendez has not homered this season despite batting in the fourth spot in the line-up, and the Hillcats have only gotten one home run from the clean-up spot in the order once this season...His .317 batting average is 12th in the Carolina League, but his slugging percentage is .376, only seventh highest on the Hillcats...
SUPPORTING CAST: RHP Brad Boxberger had his shortest outing (three and 2/3 innings of action) and allowed the most run (seven) in his professional career on Saturday night...Only three of the runs were earned though thanks to an error and a passed ball...In Boxberger's two losses this season he has allowed a combined 11 runs, but only four of them have been earned...In those two games the defense committed six errors that led to seven unearned runs...In addition, he is only receiving 3.3 runs of support per game, the lowest of any current starter on the Hillcats...
KNUCKLE PUCK: INF Cody Puckett went 0-for-4 yesterday to bring his season-long nine-game hitting streak to an end...Over that time he went 13-for-35 (.371) with eight doubles, a home run, six RBI, six runs scored and two stolen bases...He raised his average from .255 to .305 over those nine contests...Puckett is tied for second in the Carolina League in extra-base hits (16) and he is tied for second in doubles (12)...
THE PRESSURE'S HIGH: INF Alex Buchholz went 3-for-4 with three RBI with men in scoring position in the series versus Myrtle Beach...He smacked the game-winning RBI single Wednesday night in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap off the Hillcats comeback walk-off victory...This season he is batting .522 (12-for-23) with men in scoring position...Last season Buchholz batted just .165 (15-for-91) with RISP with Advanced-A Sarasota...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Manauris Baez was signed by the Royals in 2008 out of the Dominican Republic...In 2008 he threw for Rookie Burlington and went 2-2 with a 2.89 ERA and a save in 15 games (three starts)...Last season he pitched for Low-A Burlington and had a 8-6 mark with a 3.41 ERA and a save in 30 games (20 starts)...This season he moved up to Wilmington and has gone 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA in six games out of the Blue Rocks bullpen...Tonight will be his first appearance against Lynchburg...
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