CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on April 26, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (12-5) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (4-12)

April 26th, 2011 -- 6:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium

RHP Tyler Sample (1-1, 2.03) vs. RHP Zeke Spruill (1-1, 2.00)

THE HILLCATS: Monday the Hillcats lost to the Wilmington Blue Rocks 8-1...The Hillcats are still searching for their first win at home as they are currently 0-6 at Calvin Falwell Field this season...Lynchburg sits in fourth place in the Carolina League Northern Division at 4-12...

VS. WILMINGTON: The Blue Rocks won the first game of the season series last night 8-1...Wilmington took the 2010 season series 12-8...However, the Hillcats have switched affiliations since last season...The Myrtle Beach Pelicans (2010 Braves Advance-A affiliate) won the season series 11-9 against the Blue Rocks a season ago...

BEATEN BY THE BEST: The Hillcats are 0-9 against teams with winning records this season...The Salem Red Sox, who currently hold the best record in the Carolina League at 11-4, are 6-0 against Lynchburg...Myrtle Beach, currently at 11-5, swept the 'Cats in three games Lynchburg...Now the first place Blue Rocks (11-5) are 1-0 against the Hillcats after last night's 8-1 game...On the other hand, the Hillcats are 4-2 against team's with a .500 record or worse (3-1 vs. Frederick and 1-1 vs. Potomac)...

WELCOME TO LYNCHBURG: The Hillcats called up two pitchers, LHP Blaine Sims and RHP Ryan Weber, from Class-A Rome last Thursday after RHP Yeliar Castro was promoted to Class- AA Mississippi and RHP Cory Rasmus was placed on the disabled list...Neither Sims, nor Weber had prior experience at the Advanced-A level...Sims' debut could not have been better as he pitched four perfect innings of relief Sunday in Frederick, while striking out five...Weber made his debut last night, it wasn't perfect but still very good as he delivered four innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks, while striking out one...Neither factored into the decisions as the Hillcats trailed throughout each of their outings...

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Hillcats committed just one error Monday night and it did not lead to any unearned runs...On the season though, the Hillcats have committed 25 errors through their first 16 games...That's the most in the league by six (Winston-Salem 19)... Their .959 fielding percentage is the only team fielding percentage below .970 in the league...The errors have not gone unpunished, as the Hillcats staff has surrendered 21 unearned runs, also most in CL and nine more than Wilmington with second most...17 of the errors have come up the middle of the infield...Andrelton Simmons is responsible for eight miscues at shortstop in 14 games, and Matt Weaver in his one game at short added another error to the position as well as one at second base...The other seven errors up the middle have come at the expense of Phil Gosselin at second base...

LIKE TO TRY ONE OF OUR NEW STARTERS': LHP Chris Masters and LHP Matt Crim were both primarily starters in 2010 but began 2011 working from the bullpen...Both were given the opportunity to start one end of the double-header Saturday and performed with flying colors...They combined for 10.2 scoreless innings and each earned their first wins of the season...Masters started in the place of the injured RHP Cory Rasmus, while Crim started where RHP Willie Kempf (0-1, 14.04) would have been slotted to pitch...Masters is slated to throw Wednesday against the Blue Rocks on short rest, and Crim is set to throw Thursday in the series finale...

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...

BACK TO BUSINESS: The Hillcats 2011 Manager Luis Salazar made his triumphant return to managing last Friday night in the Hillcats home opener...Rick Albert had been filling in as Interim Manager for the first five games of the season...Media swarmed the Hill City including, ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, The Associated Press, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, WSET ABC 13 Lynchburg, WDBJ 7 Roanoke, WSLS 10 Roanoke, and The News & Advance...The Hillcats went 0-5 in their opening homestand and were outscored 52-18...Leaving the media circus behind, Lynchburg went 3-2 on their last road trip, losing to Salem in a 5-4 game in which the 'Cats led twice, then snapped their 10-game losing streak with a 9-1 route of the Frederick Keys Thursday, followed by sweeping a double-header against the Key on Saturday and losing 2-1 Sunday...

PITCHERS BE'WARE': OF L.V. Ware had his 2011 coming out party over the Hillcats' last five-game road trip...He hit .555 (10-18) with four doubles, two triples and four runs scored...He also stole four bases and has seemingly taking over as the 'Cats everyday leadoff man...He's 4-for-10 leading off innings this season and with Ware at leadoff for Lynchburg in all four games against Frederick over the weekend, the Hillcats took the series 3-1...He extended his current hit streak to eight games with a 1-for-4 effort against Wilmington last night...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Tyler Sample was a third round pick by the Royals in the 2008 draft out of JK Mullen Prep in Denver, CO...2010 Midwest League mid-season all-star for Burlington...Went 6-10 with a 4.69 ERA in 26 starts in 2010...Struck out 115 batters in 121 innings pitched...1-1 with a 2.02 ERA this season in three appearances (two starts)...

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Carolina League Stories from April 26, 2011


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