CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

May 11, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (14-17) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (12-19)

May 11th, 2010 -- 6:35 PM

Judy Johnson Field @ Daniel S. Frawley Stadium

RHP Scott Carroll (0-2, 2.65) vs. RHP Tim Melville (1-4, 10.48)

THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg lost 6-5 in walk-off fashion last night at Wilmington in the series opener of a four-game set...The Hillcats have now lost three in a row and four of their last five games...Tonight is the second game of the series at Frawley Stadium...The Cats enter today five 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 180-124 and they are 94-59 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...

YOU SPIN ME ROUND (LIKE A RECORD): After recently winning six out of seven games to pull back to an even .500 mark at 13-13, the Hillcats have lost four of their last five games and lost three straight heading into tonight...On their ten-game homestand they had three walk-off wins, last night they lost in walk-off fashion...Before their 6-5 loss last night, they were 8-1 in series openers and had won seven straight...A loss tonight would give the Cats their longest losing streak of the season and they would match their low water mark of the year by falling five games under .500...

JUST TAP IT IN: Lynchburg is in the midst of a 11-game stretch against the three worst teams in the Carolina League...They won the first three games they played against Kinston (now 13-18), but have since lost four of their next five...The first loss was to the Indians, then they dropped two out of three versus Myrtle Beach (a league worst 10-21) and last night they lost game one of their series with Wilmington (12-19)...After this series six of their next eight sets will be against the three best teams in the CL (Winston-Salem, Frederick and Salem)...

NO EXTRAS PLEASE: With their loss last night, Lynchburg dropped to 0-3 in extra-innings this season...In all three games the Hillcats lost in the first additional inning of play...

WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 2009! The Blue Rocks have two former Hillcats that both played on the 2009 Carolina League Champion team...UTIL Jamie Romak spent parts of three season with Lynchburg (2007, '08 and '09), including the end of last year and through the playoffs...And UTIL Eddie Prasch was with Lynchburg last season and in 2008...Romak is second all-time in Hillcats home runs with 36 and scored the game-winning run in game four of the the Northern Division Championship Series last season at Frawley Stadium...

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: The last time Lynchburg was in Wilmington they won one out of two games in the Northern Division Championship Series in last year's post-season...The Hillcats lost game three in the 12th inning with a two-run walk-off home run by 1B Eric Hosmer...Last night the Cats lost again in extra-innings in walk-off fashion with the game winning hit coming off the bat of Hosmer (an RBI double)...The Green & Gold bounced back to win game four last year to force a game five in Lynchburg, which they won to clinch the Northern Division Championship Series...

DRAW IN THE REINS: OF Kyle Day was in left field when 1B Eric Hosmer hit the game winning RBI double in the bottom of the tenth inning down the left field line...Day dove for the ball and couldn't come up with it and it got behind him on the play, allowing OF Adrian Ortiz to score all the way from first...Had Day played it on a hop he almost certainly would have kept Ortiz from scoring and there were already two outs in the inning...

MASHING MESORACO: Last night C Devin Mesoraco went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and a run scored...It was just the second time this season a Hillcat has collected four hits in a game (the other UTIL Neftali Soto on 5/1 vs. POT)...He has now reached safely in his last 16 games (and hit in 14 of those)...Over that time he is batting .368 (21-for-57) with four doubles, a triple, four homers, 11 RBI, 12 runs scored, nine walks and an OBP of .478...His on-base streak is the longest by a Hillcat this season and is 10 shy of the longest streak this year in the Carolina League (OF Brandon Short, Winston-Salem)...Mesoraco is now seventh in the league in batting average (.333), tied for third in home runs (6), fifth in on-base percentage (.427) and second in slugging percentage (.613)...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Tim Melville was selected by the Royals in the fourth round of the 2008 draft out of high school in Missouri...He made his professional debut last season with full season Low-A Burlington, where he went 7-7 with a 3.79 ERA in 21 starts...This season he progressed to Advanced-A Wilmington and in six starts he has gone 1-4 with a 10.48 ERA...Melville entered the season as the sixth ranked prospect in the Royals system...Tonight will be his first start against Lynchburg...

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Carolina League Stories from May 11, 2010


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