Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
May 3, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (8-14) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (15-8)
May 3rd, 2011 -- 6:35 PM
Judy Johnson Field at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium
RHP Willie Kempf (1-1, 10.50) vs. RHP Tyler Sample (1-1, 1.72)
THE HILLCATS: Monday the Hillcats beat the first place Wilmington Blue Rocks 9-1 in game one of the their three game series...The 'Cats went 3-3 on their recent homestand taking two of three from Wilmington last week...Lynchburg continues to look up from fourth place in the Carolina League Northern Division, now 8-14 and 6.5 games back of the Blue Rocks...
VS. WILMINGTON: After last night's win the Hillcats are now 3-1 against the Blue Rocks this season...The two teams met last week in Lynchburg where rain caused a four-game series to be shortened to three games, in which the Hillcats took two of three...
GOING GREEN: The Hillcats sported green jerseys last night as they rolled to a 9-1 victory...The Hillcats are just 8-14 on the year, however, they are 6-3 in the alternate green uniforms, while just 1-7 in their home whites, and 1-4 in road greys...
BEST, BUT YET THE WORST: Despite sitting in fourth place nearly the entire season, the Hillcats currently boast the the best divisional record in the Carolina League Northern Division at 7-3, better than first place Wilmington (4-3), second place Frederick (2-5), and third place Potomac (3-5)...The 'Cats unfortunately are 1-11 against Southern Division opponents, with their one win coming against the third place Kinston Indians last Saturday...
GOT TO ADMIT, IT'S GETTIN' BETTER: Lynchburg opened up the season with the worst start in Hillcats history at 1-10...Dropping 10 games in a row after winning their season opener...The 'Cats are 7-4 since snapping the losing streak on April 21st in Frederick...Credit for the turn-around can be given in large part to the pitching staff...Hillcats' hurlers have allowed just 21 earned runs over the past 11 games in 92.0 ip, good a 2.05 ERA in that span...The staff has climbed from eighth to fourth in the league in ERA during the 11-game stretch...The offense could still provide more support, averaging about 3.45 runs per game in that span (38 runs/11 games) and that includes a pair of nine-run efforts (4/21 @ FRE, 5/2 @ WIL)...The 3.45 runs per game is just slightly better than their season mark 3.41...
RECORD SETTING NIGHT: Pitching and offense both shined last night in Wilmington and it showed in the season records...Starter Chris Masters struck out nine, tying RHP Cory Rasmus' previous mark, and completed seven innings, matching RHP Zeke Spruill previous high...Masters also allowed just one hit, which is the fewest for any start that has lasted more than three innings (Spruill, one hit, 3.0 ip 4/26 vs WIL, game was suspended due to rain)...After tossing seven scoreless, Masters holds the team's current scoreless inning streak at nine, still 2.2 innings short of Spruill's team long streak (11.2 ip)...On offense the Hillcats set a season high with five hits in the second inning and matched a season high with four runs in that frame...The team's totals of 16 hits and nine runs in the game both matched season marks set on 4/21 in Frederick...
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...
REMOVE FROM LEADOFF AND LET 'SIMM'ER: SS Andrelton Simmons batted leadoff for the Hillcats in 10 of the first 11 games of the season, getting one day off...The team was 1-9 in his starts while he hit just .211 (8-for-38) in that span...Simmons was dropped from the leadoff spot on the twelfth game and has thrived hitting safely in 10 of 11 games since...He has batted second (1), sixth (1), seventh (7), and ninth (2) in his past 11 games, batting .425 (17-for-40) with seven RBI, five runs scored and two stolen bases...He now leads the team in batting average at .321 and ranks 10th in the Carolina League overall...
WILE-Y IS NO TRICK: OF Keenan Wiley went 3-for-3 last night with runners in scoring position but only drove in one run...The crafty outfielder slapped a liner to left that only allowed the runner at second to reach third for fear the ball would be caught, and also hit an infield single with runners at first and second to load the bases...Now hitting .308 (4-for-13) Wiley has been a pleasant surprise for the Braves organization...After receiving interest from the Braves before the 2010 draft, Wiley went unselected and later signed with the independent River City Rascals of the Frontier League...He hit .308 through 15 games before recapturing the attention of the Braves and signing in August, 2010...Successful every step of the way, he batted .328 for Danville in 20 games in 2010, and .293 through 14 games with Rome before being called up to Lynchburg on April 25th this year...
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 midseason 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 1.72 ERA this season in four appearances (three starts)...Pitched 2.1 innings before suspension of game vs. Lynchburg on 4/26...
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