Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
August 30, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
POTOMAC NATIONALS (34-28, 63-68) vs LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (28-33, 58-73)
August 30th, 2011 -- 7:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium
LHP Evan Bronson (5-4, 3.47) vs. LHP Chris Masters (9-5, 3.19)
THE HILLCATS: Monday, the 'Cats beat the Kinston Indians 3-2...Lynchburg wrapped up their season series with the Indians yesterday, finishing 6-13 against the Tribe...Back-to-back homers led the 'Cats to victory in the finale...INF Barrett Kleinknecht and OF Geraldo Rodiriguez hit solo shots, one after the other in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 3-2 lead...RHP Gary Moran went six innings, allowing just one run on two hits, but took a no-decision...The Hillcats are 28-33 in the second half...They sit in third place in the Northern Division 9.0 games behind the Frederick Keys in first place...
VS. POTOMAC: The Hillcats are 9-7 against the Nationals this season...This is the final series between the two teams this year...The road team is11-5 on the season series...The home team has not won a series between the clubs in 2011...Last year, Potomac took the season series 11-8 from Lynchburg...The former Braves Advanced-A affiliate, Myrtle Beach Pelicans, fared even worse dropping 14 of 20 to the Nationals a season ago...
STORM WATCH: The Hillcats and Indians' series in Kinston was washed out due to Hurricane Irene this weekend and moved to Lynchburg...The 'Cats left Kinston after the Friday night game had been postponed to avoid the storm and stayed in Raleigh, NC that night...Once the storm hit with full force on Saturday the decision was made that Kinston's field would be unplayable and games should be played in Lynchburg...Only two of the three games were made up in Lynchburg, and now the Hillcats are scheduled for just 68 games in the second half...
IT'S NOT OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER: Winning last night the Hillcats brought themselves 5.5 games back of the Potomac Nationals for the second half playoff spot in the Northern Division...With just seven games (eight for Potomac) left, that leaves the Hillcats elimination number at three...Lynchburg will host Potomac for a four-game set starting tonight...One loss in this series means the best the Hillcats can hope for is a tie with the Nationals which would lead to a one-game playoff in Potomac the day after the regular season ends...
WHAT TIMING!: Down 2-1 last night in the bottom of the seventh inning, INF Barrett Kleinknecht and OF Geraldo Rodriguez did something that hadn't been done by the Hillcats all season long, hit back-to-back home runs...The two solo blasts gave the 'Cats their ultimate lead in the game as they went on to win 3-2...Lynchburg has homered twice in an inning now five times...
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)...
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: INF Joey Terdoslavich went 4-for-6 with a double last Thursday...It was his 50th double of the season...He is now one away from matching the All-Time Carolina League single season doubles record set by Woody Fair with Durham back in 1946...
GETTIN' 'BETH'ER AT THE PLATE: C Christian Bethancourt went 1-for-4 last night...Current hit-streak is now at seven games, his longest as a Hillcat...He is batting .387 (12-for-31) during the streak with seven RBI...With the recent hot-hitting and the loss of Phil Gosselin, Bethancourt has batted third the past three games...
CARVING CARDENAS: RHP Eliecer Cardenas earned his seventh save of the season last night with a perfect ninth inning...It was his 29th game finished this year, which ranks fourth in the league...His boasts a 0.83 ERA (five earned runs in 53 innings pitched)...Among relievers he holds the lowest batting average against (.157) in the circuit and second-highest strikeout per nine innings pitched (11.83)...
G-'HOT'ROD: OF Geraldo Rodriguez went 1-for-3 last night with a home run...Over his last 14 games he is hitting .313 (15-for-48) with eight extra base hits, five doubles and three home runs...He has hit safely in 12 of those 14 games and is currently on a eight-game hitting streak, including a game he entered late two Thursday's ago and went 1-for-1 in his only plate appearance...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Evan Bronson was selected by the Nationals in the 29th round of the 2009 draft out of Trinity (TX) College...Was named a New York-Penn League midseason All-Star in his first (shortened) professional season...Split time between Hagerstown and Potomac in 2010, pitching primarily as a starter....Split time between the bullpen and rotation this season, making 10 starts and 11 relief appearances...Started against Lynchburg in the second game of a doubleheader on May 29...Took the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in six innings pitched...Also pitched against Lynchburg twice as a reliever...Currently 5-4 with a 3.47 ERA...
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