Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
June 25, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
THE HILLCATS: Last night, the Hillcats lost to the Wilmington Blue Rocks 4-2...Both teams were held scoreless through the first four innings...Nick Francis of Wilmington struck first with a two RBI single with two outs in the fifth...The âCats came back to tie with a run in the seventh and another in the eighth, but a costly two out error in the bottom of the eighth led to two unearned runs for the Blue Rocks and Lynchburg fell for the fourth straight time...With the loss, the Hillcats are now 0-2 in the second half, currently tied for third place in the Northern Division, a two games back of the Wilmington Blue Rocks in first place...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 6-6 against the Blue Rocks this season...The last time these two teams met in Wilmington, the âCats dominated the first two games by a combined score of 20-2, but then failed to complete the sweep losing 7-3 in the finale...This time it is the Hillcats looking to avoid the sweep as they have dropped the first two in Wilmington this series...Lynchburg fell in the season series last year, 8-12...However, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (2010 Braves affiliate) beat Wilmington 11 of 20 match-ups a year ago...
SELF INFLICTED WOUNDS: Errors, on defense and on the bases, played a key role in the Hillcats second loss of the second half...Last night, the most glaring mistake, a two-out error for third baseman Joe Leonard extended the inning, and led to two unearned runs...Before that, Joey Terdoslavich, stumbled around first base on a leadoff hit in the fifth, but continued to second base anyway and was thrown out by a wide margin...Then in the seventh, with two men on, Geraldo Rodriguez hit a deep fly ball that was lost in the sky by center fielder Yem Prades...One run scored, but Rodriguez ran the other runner off of third base for the second out of the inning, and no further runs scored...
FRESH START: Lynchburg began their season with a win back on April 9, but then went on to lose 10 in a row, making for the worst start in Hillcats history...Since snapping the streak April 21 in Frederick, the team nearly went .500 the rest of the way, winning 29 the last 59 games to finish the first half...The âCats finished with the best batting average (.261) in the league in the first half...They also hit the most doubles (146), triples (24) and had the second-most homers with 52, eight behind Winston-Salem...So far, the âCats have started the second half worse than the first at 0-2, but they still have time to right the ship before they can match the season opening skid...
ALL-STAR GAME: INF Joey Terdoslavich, INF Andrelton Simmons, and OF Adam Milligan all made the trip out to Modesto, CA to represent the Hillcats and the Carolina League in the annual Carolina/California League All-Star game...Simmons started at shortstop and went 1-for-4 with a double...Terdoslavich started at first base...He went 1-for-2 and scored the only run in the game for the Carolina League...Milligan came off the bench and went 0-for-1...The Carolina league lost 6-1...Each team tallied seven hits...No pitcher threw more than one inning for either side...RHP Bobby Bundy of the Frederick Keys took the loss after giving up four runs, two earned, in the third inning...RHP Jake Buchanan earned the win pitching a scoreless third frame for the California League...
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 C Christian Bethancourt (12), 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)...
SCORELESS SPRUILL:RHP Zeke Spruill snapped a 19.2 scoreless innings streak last night allowing a run in the fifth...Not only is that the longest streak this season for a Hillcat, but it's the longest since 2006, when LHP Greg Martin tossed 22 consecutive blank frames for the âCats...
228 AT-BATS LATER: INF Phil Gosselin homered in his eighth at-bat of the season, April 10 in Potomac...He was the first Hillcat to go deep in 2011...He went his next 228 at-bats with out a home run, before launching a three-run shot last Friday off Kinston reliever Francisco Jimenez in the sixth inning...In between home runs he had 62 hits, including 16 doubles, and a team leading five triples...
STREAKING CATS: OF Keenan Wiley (7) and OF Adam Milligan (8) both continued hitting streaks from the first half last night...Wiley is 10-for-29 during his streak, and has brought his average from .291 to .301...He is back above .300 where his average sat from May 5 - June 7 this season...The seven game streak is a season-high for Wiley...Milligan is 10-for-31 over his past eight, currently hitting .279 on the season...His current eight-game hitting streak matches a season-high he originally set in his first eight contests of the season...
PLAYER OF THE MONTH: INF Joey Terdoslavich was honored as the Carolina League Player of the Month for May as voted by the league's managers...Terdoslavich hit .304 (31-for-102) with four home runs and 20 RBI in 27 games last month...He is second in the league in home runs with 12 on the season...He also racked up 11 doubles in May, and currently has 24 total, good for second in the league as well...His average went from .243 to .279 during the month...The honor was the first weekly or monthly award of his career...So far in June, he is hitting just .218 with one home run, and five RBI in 21 games, dropping his season clip to down to .260...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Jake Odorizzi was selected in the first round (32nd overall) by the Brewers in the 2008 draft...He was traded to the Royals in December, 2010, as part of a package for Zach Greinke...Ranked 37th among Top 50 Prospects by MLB.com entering the 2011 season...He was selected to represent the Carolina League in the All-Star Game...Earned win against Lynchburg on May 4...Gave up two runs on six hits in six innings pitched while striking out eight...Currently 5-2 with a 2.71 ERA...Fifth in the Carolina League in ERA (2.71) and second in strikeouts (93)...
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Carolina League Stories from June 25, 2011
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- Donachie Helps Frederick Avoid Sweep - Winston-Salem Dash
- Myrtle Beach Pelicans Game Notes - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Kinston Indians Game Notes - Kinston Indians
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
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