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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

May 4, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (9-14) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (15-9)

May 4th, 2011 -- 6:35 PM

Judy Johnson Field at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium

RHP Cory Rasmus (0-2, 5.40) vs. RHP Jake Odorizzi (1-0, 2.25)

THE HILLCATS: Tuesday the Hillcats beat the Blue Rocks 11-1...The 'Cats have now scored 20 runs in the first two games of their current road trip, outscoring Wilmington 20-2...Lynchburg continues to look up from fourth place in the Carolina League Northern Division, now 9-14 and 5.5 games back of the Blue Rocks...

VS. WILMINGTON: After last night's win the Hillcats are now 4-1 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 again last night as they cruised to an 11-1 victory...The Hillcats are just 9-14 on the year, however, they are 7-3 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 8-3, better than first place Wilmington (4-4), 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 8-4 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 22 earned runs over the past 12 games in 101.0 ip, good a 1.96 ERA in that span...The staff has climbed from eighth to fourth in the league in ERA during the 12-game stretch...The offense in the meantime has been averaging 4.08 runs per game in that span (49 runs/12 games) but that includes a pair of nine-run efforts (4/21 @ FRE, 5/2 @ WIL) and last night's 11-run dislplay...Taking those three games out of the equation leaves the 'Cats scoring just 2.22 runs per game since snapping the losing skid...

ENCORE! ENCORE!: Pitching and offense both shined again last night in Wilmington and it showed in the season records for the second consecutive game...Starter Willie Kempf struck out seven, a personal high for this season and one short of his career mark...He also completed seven innings, tying the season high for the Hillcats...Also worth noting, in Kempf was rebounding of his last start in which he gave up 12 runs, 11 earned, on 12 hits...On offense the Hillcats set season highs with six hits and six runs in the eighth inning and matched a season high with two home runs in that frame...Lynchburg also batted around the order for the first time all season in that eighth inning...The 11 runs scored in the game surpassed the previous high of nine that was matched the night before...Individually, OF Adam Milligan was the first Hillcat this season to have four hits in a single game as he homered, doubled, and singled twice in five chances...

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 11 of 12 games since...He has batted second (2), sixth (1), seventh (7), and ninth (2) in his past 12 games, batting .444 (20-for-45) with nine RBI, six runs scored and three stolen bases...He now leads the team in batting average at .337 and ranks eighth in the Carolina League overall...

WILE-Y IS NO TRICK: OF Keenan Wiley went 2-for-4 last night with an RBI, two runs scored, and he stole his first base with the Hillcats...Now hitting .353 (6-for-17) 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 Jake Odorizzi was drafted in the first round (32nd overall) in the 2008 draft by Milwaukee out of Highland (IL) High School...Traded to Kansas City as part of a package for Zach Greinke in December, 2010...Ranked 37 in mlb.com's list of best minor league prospects coming into the 2011 season...Midwest League midseason all-star in 2010...1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 2011...

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