CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

June 5, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (24-31) @ FREDERICK KEYS (32-23)

June 5th, 2010 -- 6:00 PM

@ Harry Grove Stadium

RHP Mark Serrano (2-2, 3.38) vs. LHP Nate Nery (3-5, 3.86)

THE HILLCATS: Last night Lynchburg fell 5-1 to Frederick in game two of a four-game series at Harry Grove Stadium...Tonight they play game three of the set at Frederick and the third of seven in a row on the road...

VS. FREDERICK: The Hillcats are 5-7 against the Keys this season and are 1-4 at Harry Grove Stadium...Last season the Cats went 14-5 versus the Keys and were 7-2 at in the Hill City...Lynchburg holds the all-time advantage 161-140 and they are 76-74 at The Grove...Last season the Cats record against the Keys was their best against any opponent in the Carolina League at home, on the road and overall...

HAVEN'T WE DONE THIS BEFORE? Lynchburg is in the midst of 13 games in a row that are all against Salem and Frederick...They just played six at home against the two teams (three against each squad) and now are on the road to play seven games (four in Frederick and then three at Salem) at the Keys and Sox home parks...The Hillcats began the season with 14 games against only Salem and Frederick as well and they will have a similar stretch at the end of July...

BACK BREAKER: The Hillcats led 4-1 halfway through Thursday night's game before the Keys scored six unanswered runs to take the series opener...OF Jacob Julius hit the go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to put Frederick in front for good...The loss snapped the Cats longest winning streak of the season of five straight victories...Over a longer stretch they had won seven of their last nine contests after they had dropped 13 out of 16...Lynchburg is now eight games out of first place in the Northern Division with 15 games left to play in the first half...

DOUBLE TAP: In the top of the third inning Friday night INF Miguel Rojas and UTIL Cody Puckett both homered with only one batter in between them to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead for Lynchburg...It was the first time this season the Hillcats have hit more than one home run in an inning...It was also the first homer of the season for Rojas who had gone 165 at-bats without a long ball...Last season he had three dingers in 469 at-bats and he had six in his career prior to Thursday night...

NO SOUP FOR YOU: Last night Lynchburg was picked off of a base for the third straight game...In addition, over the last eight games the Hillcats are 5-for-12 (36%) in stolen base attempts...This season the Cats are successful in stolen base attempts 60 percent (42-for-70) of the time, which is seventh in the Carolina League...

HOME IS WHERE THE HOMERS IS: Last night INF Alex Buchholz hit his third home run of the season...It was his first home run as a professional in his home state of Maryland...His other homer on the road this season was at Wilmington, in the same state he spent his collegiate days at the University of Delaware...

BIG LEAGUE CHEW: LHP Bill Bray was transferred to the Lynchburg roster yesterday from Triple-A Louisville...The southpaw has been on the Disabled List since April 16th of last season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow that led to Tommy John surgery...Last season he only made three appearances after he had spent time at the Major League level the three previous seasons...In 2008 he went 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 63 games out of the bullpen for the Reds...Bray was acquired by Cincinnati in a trade in 2006 along with SS Royce Clayton, INF Brendan Harris, RHP Gary Majewski and RHP Daryl Thompson, in exchange for OF Austin Kearns, SS Felipe Lopez and RHP Ryan Wagner...He pitched in the Carolina League in 2005 with Potomac and had a 1-0 mark with a 2.13 ERA and three saves in eight relief appearances with the Cannons...He is the only Hillcat with any previous experience in the CL...

SLAP SHOT: UTIL Cody Puckett went 1-for-3 with a double last night...He leads the league with 29 extra-base hits, is first in doubles (20) and is third in slugging percentage (.537)...

STREAK STOPPER: INF Jose Gualdron went 0-for-3 last night to end his season-high eight-game hitting streak...Over those eight games he went 14-for-29 (.483) with six doubles, four RBI and six runs scored...Gualdron is a career .260 hitter and last season batted a combined .220 between Low-A Dayton and Advanced-A Sarasota...In those eight games he has raised his average from .264 to .341...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Nate 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 in 19 starts...This season for Frederick he has gone 3-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 10 starts...He has made six starts against Lynchburg...This season he is 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA in two starts versus the Hillcats...

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Carolina League Stories from June 5, 2010


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