CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on April 10, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


SALEM RED SOX (1-2) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (3-0)

April 10th, 2012 -- 6:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium

LHP Manny Rivera (0-0, -) vs. RHP Aaron Northcraft (0-0, -)

THE HILLCATS: Sunday afternoon, the Hillcats completed a three-game sweep of the Potomac Nationals with 3-2 win and improved to 3-0 on the season...Hillcats starter, RHP J.R. Graham, allowed two runs in five innings on his way to his first win of the season...Second baseman Tommy La Stella hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the first, a two-run shot to put the 'Cats up 2-0...A two-RBI single for Potomac catcher James Skelton...La Stella broke the tie in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly that scored OF Robby Hefflinger to make it 3-2...The Hillcats bullpen held on to the one-run lead to complete the sweep...The 'Cats are now 3-0 and in first place in the Northern Division...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 152-179 against Salem in the history of the 460 series...Tonight will be the first meeting between the two teams this season...Last year, Lynchburg lost the season series 7-13...Salem won the first seven meeting between the two clubs which include two three-game sweeps during a Hillcats 10-game losing streak in early April...

SPRING CLEANING: Lynchburg swept up the Potomac Nationals this past weekend in three games...They out-scored Potomac 19-7 and out-hit them 32-20...The Hillcats longest win streak last season was four games...They swept back-to-back doubleheaders in Potomac last May...They never swept a three-game series and only won three games in a row six times throughout the season...

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Lynchburg won it's first game of the season in 2011, a 7-6 extra inning victory over the Nationals in Potomac, but went on to lose their next 10 in a row...Their excruciating slide finally came to an end on the road in Frederick...The 'Cats didn't win a home game until April 26, after losing their first six contests at Calvin Falwell Field....This year they've won their first three games at home, reaching the overall two-win mark a whole 10 games sooner than they did a year ago...

WASTING NO TIME: The 'Cats have scored in their first at-bats in each of their first three games...They have not trailed yet this season...They were only tied past the first inning on Sunday from the second to the fifth at 2-2 before retaking the lead and holding it the rest of the way...

'HILL CITY' RETURNERS: Nine players on the Hillcats Opening Day roster spent some part of the 2011 season with Lynchburg...RHP Andrew Wilson finished with a 2.70 ERA in Lynchburg last season in 36 appearances and earned a promotion to Double-A Mississippi towards the end of the year...OF Robby Hefflinger started 2011 in Lynchburg but was reassigned to Single-A Rome after hitting just .114 through 12 games and finished the season there...C Braeden Schlehuber is also back after bouncing between Lynchburg and Mississippi last year...He played 36 games with the 'Cats, hitting .248 with four home runs including a grand slam and saw 26 games with Mississippi, where he hit .233 with one home run...The rest of the returners are as follows: RHP Caleb Brewer, LHP Dimasther Delgado (DL), LHP Chad Rodgers (DL), LHP Blaine Sims, RHP Ryan Weber, and C Ryan Query...

HOW THE BRAVES STACK UP: The Atlanta Braves farm system was ranked 15th among Major League organizations by Baseball America this year...A pretty steep drop from their second overall ranking in 2011...A large reason for this is the youth movement at the Major League level...Five of their 2011 top ten prospects, Freddie Freeman (2), Randall Delgado (3), Mike Minor (4), Craig Kimbrel (5), Brandon Beachy (8), are currently on the Atlanta roster...Another, Arodys Vizcaino (7), who started 2011 with the Hillcats, would most likely be with Atlanta as well had he not needed season ending Tommy John surgery this spring...Two others, Brett Oberholtzer (9) and J.J. Hoover (10), have been traded...Oberholtzer was part of the package of minor league prospects traded to the Houston Astros for Michael Bourn last season, and Hoover was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in a two-player deal for third baseman Jaun Francisco this spring...

PROSPECT WATCH: Once again, the Hillcats will start the season with eight of the top-30 Braves prospects...Second most of the Braves affiliates to Double-A Mississippi who have started the year with 10...3B/SS Edward Salcedo (6), RHP J.R. Graham (13), SS/2B/OF Matt Lipka (14), SS Nick Ahmed (15), LHP Dimasther Delgado (18), RHP Cody Martin (19), C Evan Gattis (27), and 2B Tommy La Stella (28) are the eight top-30 prospects on the Hillcats Opening Day roster...

LA STELLA'R START: Second baseman Tommy La Stella, eighth round pick out of Coastal Carolina in 2011, drove in all three runs last night for the Hillcats in thier 3-2 series sweeping win...He now has seven RBI on the year, good for most in the league...His early .556 batting average is second-best in the circuit and he also ranks third in slugging at 1.000...Hit his first homer of the season last night...Picking up where he left off last season, when he hit .328 with nin home runs and 40 RBI with Rome in his rookie season...Was also named the Big South Player of the Year in 2011 before signing with the Braves...

BACK IN ACTION: RHP Juan Jamie made his first regular season appearance in over two years Saturday night...Jamie inherited a runner with two outs in the top of the eighth with two outs...He walked his first batter but retired the next with a line out to center field to escape the inning without allowing a run to score...He came bac out in the ninth and sat down the side in order to finish the game...Jamie had not pitched since he was in Low-A Hagerstown in 2009, playing in the Nationals organization...He was listed on the Potomac roster in 2010 before needing Tommy John surgery in April, which put him on the shelf until last night...The Nationals placed Jamie on waivers in the fall of 2010 and the Arizona Diamondbacks claimed him...He never saw any action with the D-backs as he was released prior to the 2011 season...The Braves acquired Jamie in August of 2011...

SHOWING HE BELONGS: OF Robby Hefflinger began the 2011 season with Lynchburg, but hit only .114 with 19 strikeouts in 12 games...Was reassigned to Low-A Rome for the rest of the season...A year later and Hefflinger has a pair of home runs through his first three games...Currently 4-for-10 with a two double, two home runs, three RBI, and four runs scored...Tied for second in home runs (2) so far, first in slugging (1.200), tied for third in runs scored (4), and he leads the league with four extra base hits...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP Manny Rivera was signed as a international free agent in 2006 by the Boston Red Sox...He hails from Sabana Grande De Palenque in the Dominican Republic...He began his career with the DSL Red Sox in 2007...Dominated the DSL for two seasons with a 1.76 ERA...Spent 2009 with the GCL club...Went 1-3 with a 1.19 ERA in 12 appearances, nine starts...Spent majority of the season in the 'Sally' League...Struck out 98 batters in 98.0 innings pitched....Earned promotion to Salem in August, 2011...Made five appearances, two starts...Had 5.59 ERA and walked 10 with eight strikeouts...Did not face the Hillcats...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from April 10, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central