Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on August 20, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (24-27, 53-68) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (28-24, 59-62)
August 20th, 2010 -- 7:05 PM
Judy Johnson Field @ Daniel S. Frawley Stadium
RHP Pedro Villarreal (0-1, 7.71) vs. RHP Tim Melville (2-10, 5.54)
THE HILLCATS: Last night Lynchburg out slugged Myrtle Beach 11-8 in the series finale of their four-game series at City Stadium...The Hillcats went 5-2 on their recent seven-game homestand and are now 10-4 in their last 14 games...Tonight the Cats play the first game of a three-game series at Wilmington and the opening contest of a brief three-game road trip...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 4-10 against the Blue Rocks this season and 2-5 in Wilmington...The Cats went 5-15 against the 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 189-125...
FEELS LIKE HOME AGAIN: The Hillcats went 5-2 on their recent seven-game homestand after entering the stretch 3-13 in their last 16 games at City Stadium...Lynchburg is 11-8 in their last 19 road games, including a 5-2 record on their most recent road trip...The Green & Gold are now 29-34 this season at Calvin Falwell Field...
DOUBLE DIGITS: Last night the Hillcats hit double digits for the first time this season by scoring a season-high 11 runs...They also matched their season-best in hits with 17 a night ago in their win over Myrtle Beach (they also smacked 17 hits at Salem on April 19th...The five runs the Cats scored in the third inning was just one run shy of tying their biggest offensive inning of the season...UTIL Neftali Soto tied the most hit in a game by a Hillcat this season with four base knocks...
CAT BURGLARS: Lynchburg stole five bases last night against Myrtle Beach and stole eight bags in the final two games of the series...A night ago the Hillcats pulled off a successful double steal of second base and home to score a run...It was also the second straight game INF Miguel Rojas stole two bases, which matches the most steals in a game by a Hillcat...The Cats are tied for fifth in the Carolina League in steals with 90 in 121 games (0.7 per game)...
WHACK STAT: In last night's game between Lynchburg and Myrtle Beach, no walks were issued by either side...
FRONT AND THE BACK: RHP Jordan Hotchkiss and LHP Donnie Joseph were both promoted in the last two days (Hotchkiss today, Joseph yesterday) to Double-A Carolina...Hotchkiss was 10-4 with a 2.30 ERA in 31 games (15 starts)...He was first in the league in ERA, tied for second in wins, tied for first in WHIP (1.03), third in opponents batting average (.211) and he was tops in the league in winning percentage (.714)...Joseph was 0-4 with a 2.31 ERA and 17 saves for Lynchburg...He pitched the ninth inning Tuesday night to earn his 17th save with Lynchburg and his 23rd of the season (six with Low-A Dayton)...At the time of his departure he led the team and was second in the Carolina League in the category...The lefty notched a save in his last six appearances and was 17-for-19 (90%) in save opportunities with the Hillcats and 23-for-27 (85%) on the season...He also was fourth in the league in games finished with 27...
THE SHANE-ING: INF Shane Carlson went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored last night...He extended his hitting streak to a season-long 15 games dating back to July 23...Over that time, Carlson is 22-for-57 (.386) with seven doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and eight runs scored...During the streak he has had six multi-hit games and he has both driven in a run and scored a run in the last four contests he has played in......He has raised his batting average from .234 to .306...The streak is the longest active streak, and he has now tied for the longest streak by a Hillcat this season...OF Kyle Day had a 15-game streak followed by OF Josh Fellhauer, INF Alex Buchholz, OF Denis Phipps and INF Chris Richburg tied for second, each with 11-game hit streaks...Carlson is still 11 games short of tying the longest streak in the Carolina League this season...
DOUBLE DOWN: UTIL Cody Puckett went 2-for-5 last night with a double, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored...The double was his 37th of the season, which ties him for fifth on the single season all-time Hillcats list (with Alex Hernandez, 1997, Brad Rea, 2005)...He is now four short of tying the single season record (Ray Navarrette, 2002)...Puckett is second in the CL in doubles, extra-base hits (55) and fourth in strikeouts (118)...
RICH AND FAMOUS: INF Chris Richburg went 3-for-5 last night with a double, a home run, three RBI and a run scored...He has now hit in 18 out of his last 20 games, including an 11-game hitting streak over that time...In those 20 games he is batting .410 (32-for-78) with seven doubles, four home runs, 21 RBI and 15 runs scored...This after he started 2-for-14 (.143) with the Hillcats...
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 18 starts he went 2-10 with a 5.54 ERA before he was placed on the Disabled List in mid-July...He recently made two starts with the Arizona Royals and went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts...Melville entered the season as the sixth ranked prospect in the Royals system...He has made two starts against Lynchburg and is 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA (six earned runs in nine and 1/3 innings) against the Hillcats...
Carolina League Stories from August 20, 2010
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- Birds allow six runs in 7th and 8th innings in 6-4 loss to Kinston - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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- Dash score eight in eighth to stop Potomac - Winston-Salem Dash
- Lynchburg Scores Six Over Final Three Frames to Pull Away - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Lynchburg Earns 10th Shutout Win of the Season - Hill City Howlers
- K-Tribe Game Notes - Kinston Indians
- Hotchkiss, Joseph Promoted to Double-A - Hill City Howlers
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Hill City Howlers
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