Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
April 27, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (12-5) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (4-12)
April 27th, 2011 -- 5:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Bryan Paukovits (0-0, 3.86) vs. RHP Willie Kempf (0-1, 14.04)
THE HILLCATS: Tuesday's game between the Hillcats and the Wilmington Blue Rocks was suspended due to rain last night...Play will resume where it left off tonight in the bottom of the third inning with no score, the Hillcats batting, nobody on, one out, and L.V. Ware at the plate with a 2-0 count...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 Monday 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 0-10 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...Another call up from Rome, RHP Dan Jurik, will join the club tonight as well...
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...
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 Monday night...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER (SUSPENDED GAME): RHP Bryan Paukovits was selected in the 44th round of the the 2006 draft by the Royals...signed in 2007 as a draft-and-follow selection, after attending San Diego Mesa College for a year...Burlington Pitcher of the Year in 2010...Midwest League All-Star in 2010...3-5 with a 5.88 ERA for Wilmington in 2010 after being promoted...Currently 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two relief appearances this season...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER (GAME 2): LHP Justin Marks was selected in the third round of the 2009 draft by the Oakland Athletics out of Louisville...He was traded to the Royals in November, 2010 as part of a package for David DeJesus...Named to Big East All-Star team all three years at Louisville, and was named Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2009...Combined 6-13 with a 4.87 ERA in 2010, splitting time between Kane County and Stockton...1-0 with a 5.65 ERA this season...
Carolina League Stories from April 27, 2011
- Weather Doesn't Stop Hillcats From Winning Two - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Salem Erupts For 16, But Blanked In Nightcap - Salem Red Sox
- Pelicans Split Twinbill With Nationals - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Safety Squeeze Helps Nats Split - Potomac Nationals
- Hillcats Sweep Rocks On Long, Rainy Day - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Kinston Splits Double Header With First Place Salem - Kinston Indians
- Pelicans Game Notes - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Frederick Swipes 4-2 Win Over Dash - Winston-Salem Dash
- Keys Slip Past Dash, 4-2 - Frederick Keys
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Salem Red Sox Host Annual Pink in the Park Weekend May 6-8 - Salem Red Sox
- Wickswat Joins Winston-Salem - Winston-Salem Dash
- Noon Game - Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
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