Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
April 13, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (1-2) @ SALEM RED SOX (2-1)
April 13th, 2011 -- 7:05 PM
@ LewisGale Field
RHP Willie Kempf (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Ryan Pressly (0-0, 0.00)
THE HILLCATS: Tuesday the Hillcats lost the series opener in Salem by a score of 4-0 to the Red Sox...The Sox scored a pair of runs in the fourth and another two in the fifth as they cruised to the shutout victory...The 'Cats were 0-for-11 with runner's in scoring postion and left 7 runners on base, and two runners at third in te first two frames...Tonight Lynchburg will look for redemption in game two of the three game set in Salem...
VS. SALEM: Salem currently holds the 2011 advantage at 1-0 after last night's 4-0 affair...Tonight is game two of the season series...Last year, the Red Sox took the series, 11-8...Salem holds the all-time series advantage 167-145...
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 182-130 all-time after last night's Salem victory...
FALLING BEHIND: The Hillcats have allowed their opponents to score first in each of their first three games, and currently sit with a 1-2 record...While the 'Cats were able to come back from a 2-0 deficit last Saturday in Potomac, winning 6-5, and erase 3 separate deficits in Sunday's game against the P-Nats before falling 7-6 in extras; Lynchburg could not manage any offense Tuesday against Salem to muster any sort of come back...
YOU DON'T SCORE UNTIL YOU SCORE: Lynchburg batters were 0-for-11 with runner's in scoring position on Tuesday...The team is now hitting just .129 (4-31) on the season in that situation...Seven Hillcats were stranded on the bases as they failed to score in the 4-0 loss...
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...
CAPTAIN KKKKKKKKK MANNN: RHP Cory Rasmus put on a show early on in Tuesday night's match-up against Salem...He struck out the first eight batters he faced and nine of the first ten....He was perfect throught those first ten batters before walking the 11th...An RBI triple came two batters later, breaking up the no-hitter and the shutout in the fourth inning...Rasmus went on to give up a two-run home run in the fifth and would exit after just four and 1/3 innings of work as his pitch count was getting high and effectiveness was fading...
RUNNING RAMPANT: Opposing base stealers are now 7-for-7 through the first three games of the 2011 season against the Hillcats...It should be noted that four of those bases were stolen by Potomac's, Eury Perez, over the weekend who had 64 swipes a season ago and stole at an 83% success rate...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Thomas Pressley was an eleventh round pick for the Red Sox in 2007 out of Marcus (TX) High School..In 2010, he placed seventh among qualifying Red Sox minor leaguers with a 3.72 ERA with low-A Greenville...He held his opponents to 3 runs or less in 22 of his 24 starts, including 11 in a row from 7/4-8/30...In 2009, he played for short-season Lowell, where he tied for the team lead in strikeouts (64) and tied for second in wins (6)...He also led the team in K/9 (9.65)...In 2008, in his first pro season, he went 1-4 with a 3.94 ERA for the GCL Red Sox...Tonight will be his first start against the Hillcats...
Carolina League Stories from April 13, 2011
- P-Nats Split Doubleheader With Dash - Potomac Nationals
- Lynchburg Drops Second Straight In Salem - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Keys Push Past Pelicans With Pitching - Frederick Keys
- Stingy Sox Swipe 5-2 Victory from Hillcats - Salem Red Sox
- First-Inning Run Holds up for Keys - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Melville Shines in One-Run Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Pomeraz Shines, But Blue Rocks Beat Kinston 2-1 - Kinston Indians
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Dash Doubleheader Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
- Salem Red Sox and Lions of Virginia Collecting Donations for Pulaski Tornado Victims - Salem Red Sox
- Dash Opens Home Slate Friday - Winston-Salem Dash
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