CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on August 4, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (14-22, 43-63) vs. POTOMAC NATIONALS (20-16, 51-55)

August 4th, 2010 -- 7:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field @ Lynchburg City Stadium

LHP Justin Walker (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Marcos Frias (4-5, 6.54)

THE HILLCATS: Last night Lynchburg lost 9-5 to Potomac in the second game of a three-game series at City Stadium...After winning four games in a row, the Hillcats have lost five straight...Tonight they play the final game of their set with the Nationals...The Cats are playing the only three home games they have in a stretch of 13 out of 16 on the road...

VS. POTOMAC: The Hillcats are 6-9 against the Nationals thus far this season and are 4-5 at City Stadium...Lynchburg is 160-154 against Potomac all-time...Last season the Cats won the season series with the P-Nats 11-9...

LATE NIGHT WITH THE CATS: Last night's game was three hours and two minutes in length...Four of the last five Hillcats games have been at least three hours long...The series opener on Monday night lasted three hours and 46 minutes...The 11-inning contest was the second longest game of the season, only behind a 14 inning affair against Frederick on May 29th at City Stadium (three hours and 58 minutes)...That contest was part of a doubleheader, and the first game of the twin bill lasted two hours and 32 minutes...

THE ONLY PLACE IS UP: Lynchburg now owns the worst second half (14-22) and overall record (43-63) in the Carolina League this season...The Hillcats are on pace to finish the season with a record of 57-83 (if they play the full 140 game schedule), which would be the most losses in team history...

IN THEIR HANDS: The Hillcats bullpen allowed three runs (two earned) and four inherited runners to score last night and took a blown save...It marked the fourth time in five games the pen has been hit with a blown save..On Monday night the Hillcats led by three when the game got turned over to the bullpen and they could not hold the lead...Last Thursday in Salem the Lynchburg bullpen could not keep a three-run advantage heading into the seventh inning (at one point the Hillcats led by five in that game)...On Wednesday in Frederick the Cats had a two-run lead going into the bottom of the tenth inning, but the relief core could not shut the door...Over the last five games the Hillcats bullpen in 0-3 with a 6.41 ERA (14 earned runs in 19 and 2/3 innings) and four blown saves...The Cats have now blown 34 leads this season, while they have have come from behind to win 14 games...

GO FIGURE: In the the first two games of this series the two Potomac starters combined to last just five innings of action and allowed eight earned runs (14.40 ERA)...Despite the fact that neither starter made it through three innings of work the Nationals have won the first two games of this set...Their bullpen in the series has tossed a combined 15 innings without giving up a single run and has earned both wins and a save...

FEELING THE PULL: With their loss last night Lynchburg has now dropped 12 of their last 15 games at Calvin Falwell Field to fall to 24-31 at home this season...On the flip side, the Hillcats are 6-6 in their last 12 road games...The Cats are 0-2 on their current three-game homestand, they went 3-4 on their last home stretch and 0-6 during the homestand prior to that...Tonight they try to avoid getting swept for the fourth time at home this season in a three-game series...

NEWBIES: Tonight LHP Justin Walker makes his Hillcats debut in his first start at the Advanced-A level...He was 3-10 with a 5.88 ERA in 20 games (16 starts) with Low-A Dayton...In his last three outings with the Dragons he was 0-2 with a 14.23 ERA (18 earned runs in 11 innings)...Last night LHP Ezequiel Infante made his Hillcats debut in relief...He went an inning and 2/3 with two hits, one unearned run, two strike outs and allowed two inherited runners to score...With Dayton the lefty was 1-2 with a 3.04 ERA in 28 games out of the pen...The Cats have now had 73 transactions in the 2010 campaign...

'BURG IS THE WORD: INF Chris Richburg went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI last night...He has had four multi-hit games in his last five contests and he now has six multi-hit games in 12 games with Lynchburg...With the Hillcats he is batting .349 (15-for-43) with two doubles, three home runs (all came in a four-game stretch), 11 RBI and eight runs scored...Richburg now has a total of 17 homers on the season (14 with Low-A Dayton), which is third in the Reds minor league organization...He is behind former Hillcat C Devin Mesoraco (tied for first with 20) and just ahead of current teammate UTIL Neftali Soto, who has 16 and is third in the Carolina League...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Marcos Frias was signed by the Nationals in 2007 out of the Dominican Republic..He made his professional debut in 2007 with the Dominican Nationals...In 2008 he worked for the GCL Nationals and went 3-4 with a 2.92 ERA in 13 games (nine starts)...Last season he advanced to full season Low-A and posted a 9-5 mark with a 2.91 ERA in 25 games (23 starts)...This season with the P-Nats he has gone 4-5 with a 6.54 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) thus far this year...He has made two starts against Lynchburg this season and is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA (six earned runs in five innings)...Frias made back-to-back starts against the Hillcats at the end of April...In the first outing he gave up just one earned run in five innings...The next start though he did not record an out as the first seven men reached (six on hits) against him...That six-run inning is still the biggest inning by the Cats this season and last night in the third inning was the only other inning this year they have brought ten men to the dish...

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Carolina League Stories from August 4, 2010


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