CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on April 12, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (1-1) @ SALEM RED SOX (1-1)

April 12th, 2011 -- 7:05 PM

@ LewisGale Field

RHP Cory Rasmus (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Chris Balcom-Miller (0-0, 0.00)

THE HILLCATS: Sunday the Hillcats lost the series finale against the Potomac Nationals 7-6 at Pfitzner Stadium...The game needed 10 innings to find a victor, saw four lead changes, and two ties...Tonight the Hillcats begin a three-game series against their nearby rival Salem Red Sox...

VS. SALEM: Tonight is game one of the season series between Lynchburg and Salem...Last year, the Red Sox took the series, 11-8...Salem holds the all-time series advantage 166-145...

HOME COOKIN': Home field is an important part of the rivalry between these teams...The home team won 13 of the 19 games last year and is 181-130 all-time.

IT HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS: The Nationals took the early 1-0 lead Sunday over the Hillcats when Steven Souza hit his second home run in as many games...Four lead changes, three blown saves, and two tie ball games later, the P-Nats squeaked out a victory with a walk-off RBI-double in the bottom of the 10th inning...Shortstop Rick Hague delivered the knockout blow, a shot to the warning track in center field...

TURN ABOUT'S FAIR PLAY: The Hillcats walked five (one intentionally) and committed a costly two-out error in the span of two consecutive innings (the sixth and seventh) Sunday in Potomac...Four of the Nationals' seven runs scored in those two innings...One run was unearned, scoring after a ground ball went off the glove of third baseman, Joe Leonard, in the seventh.... Saturday 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...

CLUTCH CAVALIER: INF Phil Gosselin went 1-for-5 Sunday for the second straight game...Yet he was again the offensive stand out for Lynchburg as that one hit was a two-run home run in the fifth which broke up a 2-2 tie...His big hit on Saturday was a three run double that gave the Hillcats a 3-2 lead in the third inning...Gosselin is 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and six RBI with runners in scoring position so far this season...

CATCH ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME: L.V. Ware, who successfully stole his first base in his first attempt on Saturday, was thrown out at second twice on Sunday...Potomac's Sandy Leon was unable to catch Ware on Saturday, but Sunday's backstop Brian Peacock nailed him twice...Ware entered the game in the eighth inning as pinch runner for Robby Hefflinger, remained in the game and reached base via fielder's choice in the 10th inning...He was caught for the final out of the ball game in the top of the 10th.

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Chris Balcolm-Miller was a sixth round selection by the Colorado Rockies in the 2009 First Year Player Draft out of West Valley (CA) College...The Red Sox acquired him in a trade for Manny Delcarmen in August, 2010...Rated by Baseball America as the 26th-best prospect in the Red Sox system and as having the best control in the Red Sox organization in 2011...He spent most of the 2010 season with Asheville in the South Atlantic League before finishing the season with Greenville after the trade...Combined to go 7-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 20 regular-season starts in the South Atlantic League and 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 2 playoff starts...Was at or near the top in several pitching categories, including ERA (5th), strikeouts per 9.0 ip among qualifying starters (1st/9.42), WHIP (2nd/0.96), opposing BA (3rd/.215), and unintentional walks per 9.0 ip (2nd/1.49)...Was named Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year in 2009 while pitching for Casper...Went 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in 11 games started...Did not allow a run in any of his first three professional starts (12.0 ip)...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from April 12, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central