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CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

July 29, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


SALEM RED SOX (14-19, 45-57) vs LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (11-22, 41-62)

July 29th, 2011 -- 7:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium

RHP Stolmy Pimentel (0-3, 11.05) vs LHP Chris Masters (6-5, 3.23)

THE HILLCATS: Wednesday, the 'Cats lost to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7-6..INF Joe Leonard went deep in the first inning with two men on, his sixth of the season, and put the Hillcats up 4-0...The Pelicans tied the game up at 4-4 in the sixth, before the 'Cats added one in the seventh and another in the ninth to take 6-4 lead...In the bottom of the ninth, Lynchburg's closer Ryan Buchter gave up a single and walked two in a row to load the bases with two out...C Christian Bethancourt then lost a wild pitch that went to the third base dugout and two runs came in to tie the game...Moments later, Zach Zaneski singled home the winning run...The Hillcats are currently tied for third place in the Northern Division at 11-22 with the Wilmington Blue Rocks, 11.0 games back of the Frederick Keys in first place...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 5-12 against the Red Sox this season...Salem has clinched the season series as this will be the final series between two clubs, a three-game set in Lynchburg...The Hillcats are just 2-5 against the Red Sox this season at City Stadium...Last season, the Red Sox took the season series 11-8 over Lynchburg...Myrtle Beach (2010 Braves Advanced-A affiliate) fared worse against Salem, winning just five of the 20 match-ups...

ROAD WEARY: Lynchburg returns to City Stadium for the first time since July 16 tonight, wrapping up an 11-game in 12 days road trip last night...The Hillcats won four of 11, splitting four games in Potomac, winning one of three in Salem, and one of four in Myrtle Beach...The offense continued to struggle throughout the trip, hitting just .211 (71-337) as a team...They were shut out four times, and averaged just 2.73 runs per game (30 runs/11 games)...

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The Pelicans served the Hillcats their second doubleheader sweep of the season Wednesday night, and second since the All-Star break...In the first half the 'Cats swept three doublheaders and split another, but in the second half they are 0-4 in doubleheader contests, scoring just one run on 12 hits through those 28 innings...

BEST OF THE BRAVOS: Eight members of the Hillcats are ranked amongst the top 30 prospects in the Atlanta 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)...

BRIGHT SPOT: C Christian Bethancourt started swinging a hot bat during the road trip despite the team struggles...After an 0-for-3 start in his first game of the trip July 18, Bethancourt went 9-for-27 (.333) through his final seven starts on the road...He had two doubles, drove in three runs, and scored one as well in the span...His batting average went from .226 to .258...The offense of course is just a bonus and Bethancourt earns his paycheck behind the plate with a caught stealing percentage of 57.9% (11/19)...

ANOTHER BUMP IN THE ROAD: LHP Ryan Buchter blew his first save of the season last night...He surrendered three runs in the bottom of the ninth after entering the game up 6-4...He is 10-for-11 in save chances but has fallen on the rough times recently..Through his first 13 appearances, he tossed 16.2 innings, allowed just four runs, three earned, never allowing multiple runs in any one outing...He has surrendered multiple earned runs in four of seven appearances since...His ERA in that span has nearly tripled from 1.62 to 4.50 in that span...

HILLCATS HISTORY: RHP Zeke Spruill threw his fifth complete game of the season in game one Wednesday night...He now holds the record for most complete games in a season since Lynchburg adopted the Hillcats moniker in 1995...Spruill only needed to throw six innings for the complete game last night as the Hillcats lost 5-0 in a seven-inning game...He's 3-2 when going the distance, and the distance has been different almost each time...He has two nine-innings complete game, an eight-inning, seven-inning and now a six-inning as well...None have been weather shortened but two were doubleheader games...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER:RHP Stolmy Pimentel was signed by the Red Sox as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2006 out of San Cristobol, Dominican Republic...Rated as the sixth best prospect in the Red Sox system by Baseball America coming into the 2011 season...Selected to play in the Futures Game in 2010...Spent all of 2010 in Salem...Went 9-11 with a 4.06 ERA...Struck out 102 batters in 128.2 innings pitched...Started 2011 season in Double-A Portland...Went 0-9 with a 9.12 ERA in 15 starts...Has made three starts for Salem this season...Currently 0-3 with an 11.05 ERA...Pitched against Lynchburg on July 23...Pitched three innings, giving up one unearned run on two hits...He has a total of 57.2 innings pitched this season, and 34 walks...Combined 0-12 with a 9.36 ERA...

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