Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on April 10, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (1-0) @ POTOMAC NATIONALS (0-1)
April 10th, 2011 -- 1:05 PM
@ G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium
RHP Zeke Spruill (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Trevor Holder (0-0, 0.00)
THE HILLCATS: Last night the Hillcats won their season opener on the road against the Potomac Nationals 6-5...Today they will try to complete a two game sweep of the P-Nats after Friday's game was rained out and postponed until the Hillcats return to Potomac May 27-29...
VS. POTOMAC: The Hillcats are 1-0 against the Nationals this season and 1-0 at Pfitzer Stadium...Lynchburg holds the all-time advantage 163-146 and they are 76-80 in Woodrbridge...
IT'S NOT HOW YOU START: Through two innings last night the Nationals had a 2-0 lead...The first three batters of the game all had base hits for Potomac and their starting pitcher (LHP Danny Rosenbaum) had thrown two hit-less innings and struck out four...The P-Nats though would not get another hit until the eighth inning and the Hillcats plated three runs in the third inning to take the lead for good...
SELF-INFLICTED: Last night the Nationals committed two errors, walked seven batters and threw three wild pitches...Of the six runs the Hillcats scored only one got aboard with a hit...Four were issued walks and another runner reached on an error...All three of the wild pitches were in the same inning and two of them scored a run...
AHHH, THIS TEAM IS JUST RIGHT: In 2011 the Hillcats begin their first season as the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Atlanta Braves...The Braves are the third different team in three seasons to serve as the parent club for the 'Cats...Lynchburg was the High A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds in 2010 after a 15-year relationship with the Pittsburgh Pirates ended after the 2009 campaign...The Braves are the tenth different Major League team that has been the parent club to Lynchburg...Prior to the Reds arrival in 2010, Lynchburg had only been affiliated with three different teams over a 34-year span (New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates)...
SECOND TO ONE: The Atlanta Braves farm system was ranked as the second best in all of baseball by Baseball America in their 2011 Prospect Handbook...It marks the fourth straight year and the ninth time in the last ten seasons the Braves have been ranked in the top ten by BA...It also was the first time since 2003 they have been ranked as high as second...Cincinnati, who served as Lynchburg's parent club in 2010, were ranked as the sixth best farm system in baseball...The Pittsburgh Pirates, who were the Hillcats Major League affiliate from 1995 to 2009, were ranked 19th...
BEST OF THE BRAVOS: Eight members of the Hillcats are ranked amongst the top 30 prospects in the Braves organization according to Baseball America...That list includes RHP Arodys Vizcaino (7), SS Andrelton Simmons (15), RHP David Hale (17), RHP Dimasther Delgado (18), OF Todd Cunningham (20), OF Adam Milligan (22), INF Joe Leonard (23) and 2B Phil Gosselin (25)...Vizcaino was tabbed the 93rd best prospect in all of baseball by BA as well...
DOWN BUT NOT OUT: The Hillcats 2011 Manager Luis Salazar is planning on managing his first regular season game on April 15th...Rick Albert will fill-in as Interim Manager for the first six games of the season...Salazar was struck in the head with a foul ball on March 9 while watching a spring training game...He is still recovering from three different surgeries he had to undergo following the incident, including a procedure that removed his left eye...
FAMILIAR LANDSCAPES: Of the 27 players on the Hillcats roster, 18 have played for the Danville Braves (Rookie affiliate of the Braves) at one point and five of those played for Danville last season...Pitching coach Derek Botelho and hitting coach Bobby Moore have also spent time in Danville as a coach...In addition, 14 of the current Hillcats played in the Carolina League for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Advanced-A affiliate of the Braves prior to this season) a year ago...
I'M RUBBER YOU'RE GLUE: RHP Arodys Vizcaino pitched five innings last night and gave up just two runs in earning his first win of the season...The first three batters he faced all got base hits and two of them scored to give the Nationals an early 2-0 advantage...The right-hander settled in though and retired 15 of the next 16 he faced to end his evening...The Hillcats scored six unanswered runs en route to the 6-5 win...
HIGH TIDE OR LOW TIDE: INF Phil Gosselin went 1-for-5 last night with a three run double that gave the Hillcats a 3-2 lead in the third inning...He also picked up an assist by throwing out a base runner from the outfield grass that was trying to score from second on a ground ball base hit...On the flip side, the former UVA Cavalier committed an error, was thrown out on the base paths trying to advance and popped out on a bunt attempt...
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO: RHP Jason Lowey recorded the final two outs of the game last night to earn his first save of the season...Last year with River City in the Frontier League (Independent) he notched 21 saves for the Rascals...The right-hander pitched for River City the last two seasons and combined to save 45 games over that time...
THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE: C Braeden Schlehuber and OF L.V. Ware were part of a successful double steal in the eighth inning last night...Schlehuber, who stole home, stole just two bases all of last season...Ware on the other hand, stole 30 bases last season and entering this year he had swiped 70 bags in his three-year career...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Trevor Holder was a third round selection by the Nationals in the 2009 draft out of the University of Georgia...In four years with the Bulldogs he went a combined 22-15 with a 4.51 ERA in 73 games (50 starts)...In 2009, he made his professional debut with Short Season Low-A Vermont and had no decisions in two starts with a 5.06 ERA...He next made three starts with full season Low-A Hagerstown and went 2-0 with a 3.55 ERA with the Suns...He finished the season with Potomac and posted a 2-3 mark with a 9.26 ERA in six starts...Last season he returned to Hagerstown and had a 4-3 mark with a 3.15 ERA in 12 starts before earning a promotion back to the P-Nats...With Potomac he went 0-2 with a 5.44 ERA in eight games (seven starts)...Holder made his last start of the season in 2009 against Lynchburg and gave up eight runs (six earned) in four and 1/3 innings and took the loss at Pfitzner Stadium...Last season he started against the Hillcats once and he gave up three unearned runs and took the loss on June 20th at City Stadium...
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