CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on July 12, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (7-10, 36-51) @ WINSTON-SALEM DASH (10-7, 53-34)

July 12th, 2010 -- 7:00 PM

@ BB&T Ballpark

RHP Lance Janke (3-6, 6.28) vs. RHP Stephen Sauer (5-6, 5.01)

THE HILLCATS: Yesterday Lynchburg edged Winston-Salem 5-4 in the middle game of the series and have now taken the first two games of the set...Tonight the Hillcats go for the series sweep of the Dash in the final game of the three-game series at Winston-Salem and the third contest of seven in a row on the road...

VS. WINSTON-SALEM: Lynchburg is 2-9 against Winston-Salem this season after their two wins in this series...The Dash have three, three-game series sweeps of the Hillcats...Last season the Cats went 11-9 against the Dash...Lynchburg holds the all-time advantage in the series with Winston-Salem 157-152...

COMING AROUND ON JULY: The Green & Gold have won back-to-back games after starting July 0-8...The Hillcats ended June by winning five of their last six games, but had lost every game until this series...

THE WORM HAS TURNED: After losing their first nine games in their season series with the Dash, the Hillcats have won the last two games over the last two days...In their last trip to BB&T Ballpark, Lynchburg got swept in the three-game series and lost those games by a combined score of 31-10...Three of the five times the Cats have been swept this season it has been at the hands of the Dash...In this series though, the Green & Gold have never trailed...

LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE: Yesterday Lynchburg went 4-for-7 (.571) with men and scoring position and had three two-out RBI...Thus far in the series they are 7-for-15 (.467) with five two-out RBI...In their recent three-game series against Winston-Salem at City Stadium, Lynchburg went 6-for-42 (.143) with men in scoring position, only two of those six hits brought in a run and they stranded 36 men on base (12 per game)...The Cats had 36 hits in the series (12 per game), but scored just nine runs (three per game)...

BY COMMITTEE: Yesterday the bullpen tossed seven innings and only allowed the run...The pen earned the win, a hold and a save...The only run allowed was by RHP Curtis Partch, who has primarily been a starter...In this series the bullpen has worked 11 and 2/3 innings and only given up one run (0.79 ERA)...On Saturday night, the bullpen essentially combined to throw a three-hit shutout (the starter was RHP Chase Ware who came out of the pen to make a spot start)...The relievers for Lynchburg, who had a combined ERA over 6.00 for much of the first half, now have their earned run average down to 4.22...

I'LL SPOT YOU: Last night RHP James Avery made a spot start for Triple-A Louisville and allowed three runs in six innings of work in a no-decision for the Bats...It was his second career start at the Triple-A level, as he also made a spot start for Louisville in 2006...Avery, who has spent the last three seasons at the Double-A level, is scheduled expected to start for Lynchburg again on Friday at Myrtle Beach...RHP Chase Ware made a spot start for the Hillcats Saturday night in Avery's place and did not allow a run in four and 1/3 innings of action...He did not allow a hit through the first four and 1/3 innings in his first start of the season and just his third start of his professional career...In his first five games (11 and 1/3 innings) with the Cats he has not given up a run...Earlier this season while pitching for Low-A Dayton, Ware threw 22 and 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings...All 13 of his appearances his senior season at Arkansas State University were as a starter and he is slated to start again on Thursday against the Pelicans...

DAY-O FOR SOTO: In 15 day games this season UTIL Neftali Soto is batting .317 with eight doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI...In night contests he is hitting .248...During the day his slugging percentage is .550 and his OPS is .894...In nights games his slugging percentage is .412 and his OPS is .712...He went 1-for-4 yesterday with a double, an RBI and a run...Soto has now hit in a season-high eight straight games...Over that time he is 12-for-35 (.343) with three doubles, a triple, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored...His average has gone from .251 to .261 over this stretch...

FREE AS A BIRD: RHP Justin Freeman worked a perfect eighth inning last night to earn his team-leading sixth hold of the season...On Saturday night he pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure the win...He has now thrown 11 consecutive scoreless frames and over that time his ERA has dropped from 4.60 to 3.40...The right-hander is first in the league in games pitched (34) and third in games finished (22)...Freeman is also second on the team with six saves...

WHAT'S YOUR PRICE FOR FLIGHT: OF Kyle Day went 2-for-4 with a run scored Saturday night...He has hit in 10 of his last 12 games and over that time he is 16-for-38 (.421) with three doubles, a triple, a grand slam, nine RBI, eight runs scored, five walks and three steals...In those 12 contests Day has raised his average from .226 to .263...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Stephen Sauer was selected by the White Sox in the 10th round of the 2008 draft out of Arizona State University...In 2008 with the Sun Devils he went 4-1 with a 4.56 ERA and one save in 25 games (six starts)...He made his professional debut that same year with Rookie Great Falls and had a 3-2 mark with a 3.41 ERA and five saves in 19 games in relief...Last season he progressed to full season Low-A Kannapolis and had a 6-5 record with a 3.36 ERA in 28 games (22 starts)...This season with Winston-Salem he has made 16 starts and gone 5-6 with a 5.01 ERA for the Dash...He made back-to-back starts against Lynchburg in mid-May and went 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA (six earned runs in 12 innings) in those two outings...

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Carolina League Stories from July 12, 2010


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