CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on July 19, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (9-13, 38-54) vs. FREDERICK KEYS (11-11, 52-40)

July 19th, 2010 -- 7:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium

RHP Curtis Partch (3-7, 5.38) vs. RHP Luis Noel (1-0, 0.00)

THE HILLCATS: Saturday night Lynchburg fell 5-2 to Myrtle Beach in the final game of their four-game series at BB&T Coastal Field...The Hillcats split the set with the Pelicans and went 4-3 on their seven-game road swing...Tonight is the series opener of a three-game series with Frederick and the first contest of a seven-game homestand...

VS. FREDERICK: The Hillcats are 5-9 against the Keys this season and are 4-3 at City Stadium...The last time these two teams met, Frederick swept Lynchburg in a four-game series 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 161-142...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...

RIGHTING THE SHIP ON THE ROAD: Lynchburg completed their seven-game road swing Saturday night with a 4-3 mark...The stretch included a series victory at Winston-Salem, as the Hillcats became just the second team this season to take a set from the Dash at BB&T Ballpark...This over .500 stretch of road games came after the Cats went 0-6 on their recent homestand...Their win in the series opener at Winston snapped a season-high eight-game losing streak...

I'LL MATCH YOU: The Hillcats blanked the Birds on Friday night one night after they shutout the Cats...It marked the third time this season that Lynchburg shutout an opponent the next game after they were kept of the board and it was the second time in eight days...The 4-0 win gave the Hillcats eight shutouts on the season as opposed to being blanked five times...All eight of the doughnuts the Cats have handed out have been in the last 48 games, after they went 44 without keeping their opponent off the board to start the season...

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RHP James Avery was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week today for the week of July 12th through the 18th...The right-hander dealt eight scoreless innings in his last start on Friday night to earn his fifth win of the campaign...He only gave up two hits and struck out six...It was his longest start of the season, two outs shy of matching the longest outing of his career and the longest start by a Hillcats pitcher this season...Avery became the second Hillcat this season to earn POW honors...The other was C Devin Mesoraco, who was named Player of the Week for the week of May 10th through the 16th...The last Hillcats hurler to be named was RHP Matt McSwain last season in August...

JUST STOPPING BY: INF Carlos Mendez was promoted to Double-A Carolina today, just 11 days after he was transferred to Lynchburg from the Mudcats...He was batting a team-high .295 with 23 RBI in 72 games with the Hillcats, and he hit .293 (12-for-41) in his 10 games back with the Cats...In 12 games with Carolina, Mendez is batting .344 (11-for-32) and he went 1-for-1 last night for the Mudcats in their 5-2 win over Chattanooga...

JUST NOT THE SAME: RHP Nick Christiani gave up one run in one inning of work on Saturday night in his first appearance since returning from a three-game suspension handed down by the Carolina League...In his six games pitched since coming off the Disabled List the right-hander has given up seven earned runs in seven innings (9.00 ERA)...Prior to those appearances, Christiani had allowed just three earned runs in 26 innings of action (1.00 ERA)...

A FREE MAN: RHP Justin Freeman worked a scoreless ninth inning Friday night to close out the shutout win over the Pelicans...He has now thrown 13 consecutive scoreless frames and over that time his ERA has dropped from 4.60 to 3.25...The right-hander is first in the league in games pitched (36) and second in games finished (24)...Freeman is also first on the team with six holds and second on the squad with six saves...In April his ERA was 7.88, in May it was 3.07, in June it dropped to 2.40 and so far in July he has not given up a run in six appearances out of the pen...

KNIGHT AND DAY: OF Kyle Day went 1-for-4 Friday night and has now hit in five straight games, matching his longest hitting streak of the season...He has hit in 13 of his last 15 games and over that time he is 21-for-48 (.438) with three doubles, a triple, a grand slam, ten RBI, eight runs scored, five walks and three steals...In those 15 contests Day has raised his average from .226 to .271...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Luis Noel was signed by the Orioles in 2006 out of Haiti...That same year he made his professional debut with the Dominican Orioles and went 2-5 with a 2.85 ERA and two saves in 18 games (eight starts)...The next season he threw for the GCL Orioles and had a 6-2 mark with a 3.18 ERA with one save in 14 games (11 starts)...That year he also made three relief appearances with Aberdeen and had no decisions and a 12.86 ERA...In 2008 he pitched for full season Delamarva and posted a 10-8 record with a 3.96 ERA in 27 starts with the Shorebirds...Last season Noel again pitched for the Dominican Orioles and had a 4-5 mark with a 2.99 ERA with one save in 15 games (14 starts)...This season he began the campaign with Delmarva and was 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA when he earned the call-up to Frederick...He has made one start with the Keys and he threw six scoreless innings last Monday to earn a victory over Kinston...Tonight will be his first start against Lynchburg...

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Carolina League Stories from July 19, 2010


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