Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on April 12, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release
SALEM RED SOX (1-4) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (5-0)
April 12th, 2012 -- 6:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Ryan Pressly (0-0, 15.00) vs. RHP Gus Schlosser (1-0, 2.25)
THE HILLCATS: Last night, the Hillcats defeated the Salem Red Sox 4-1 at home...RHP Cody Martin struck out six batters and held the Sox scoreless through five innings...OF David Rohm went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, an RBI, and a run scored...The 'Cats scored three in the third and another in the fourth...That was plenty for the pitching staff which only allowed a lone run in the sixth inning...Martin earned the win to improve to 2-0...RHP Juan Jaime struck out the side in order in the ninth to record his first save...The Hillcats are now 5-0 and still in first place in the Northern Division...
VS. SALEM: It took Lynchburg eight games against the Red Sox last year to record a win, but in 2012 they have taken the first two meetings of the season and lead the series 2-0...The Hillcats are 154-179 against Salem in the history of the 460 series...Last year, Lynchburg lost the season series 7-13...
5-0 NEVER BEFO: The Hillcats are 5-0 to start the 2012 season...They are the first Hillcats team to accomplish the feat since the club acquired the feline moniker back in 1995...In their 18-year history the club has seen 4-0 starts in 1999, 2002, and 2003...Their current five-game winning streak is the longest since the 'Cats won five in a row May 29-June 2 in 2010 as a Cincinnati Reds affiliate...Last year, the team started 1-0 but ended up 1-10 to begin the season...This year, the 'Cats are out-scoring opponents 29-10 and out-hitting them 52-33 so far...They lead the league in batting average, slugging, and on-base percentage...Have struck out only 26 times, 12 less than the next best team (Frederick, 38)...The pitching staff has posted a 2.00 ERA thus far, second in the league, while allowing the fewest number of runs and striking out 45 as opposed to just 14 walks in 45 innings...
FIRST!: Last night, the Hillcats failed to score in the first inning for the first time this season...Their bats still struck first blood in the third inning with three runs, and added another in the fourth before Salem got on the board...The 'Cats have not trailed yet this season...They have only been tied past the initial score of 0-0 once this year...Sunday from the second to the fifth, it was 2-2 before Lynchburg retook the lead and held it the rest of the way...When scoring first last season, the Hillcats were 37-23...
HIGH-WATER: Lynchburg's high water mark in 2011 was 1-0 after Opening Day...The team never saw their record get back above .500, even starting fresh in the second half...The 'Cats dropped the first two games in the second half and were unable to post a .500 record after the All-Star Break...At 5-0, the Hillcats are in first place, and have been since Opening Day, when all other Northern Division teams lost...Hillcats hadn't been in first place since game two of the 2011 season...
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...
WHEN IN ROHM: OF David Rohm went 2-for-4 last night...It was his first multi-hit game of the season...He doubled twice, scored the first Hillcats run of the game and drove in the final 'Cats run...Rohm is a ninth round pick from the 2010 draft...Split time at the rookie levels in his first year...Saw a promotion to Low-A Rome last season, where he hit .289 with seven home runs and 58 RBI...Now at High-A Lynchburg, Rohm is continuing to produce...Currently 5-for-19 (.263), with nothing but extra-base hits...Has four doubles and triple, showing the gap-to-gap power come to be expected from him...
I DON'T BELIEVE YOU: After just one turn through the rotation, RHP Cody Martin is 2-0 for the Hillcats...He is the first player in the Carolina League to win two games this season...He won his first game when he pitched a perfect fifth inning last Saturday against the Potomac Nationals...Starter Ronan Pacheco left the game after four innings due to pitch count and Martin scooped up the win as the Hillcats led 4-0 and went on to win 7-2...Last night, Martin earned his second win by pitching five scoreless frames in his first Advanced-A start...He struck out six which set a new career-high for the second-year pro...
HECK, I'M NOT EVEN MAD, THAT'S AMAZING: Last night, RHP Juan Jamie was given his first save opportunity since 2006, when he was playing for the Dominican Summer League Nationals...He struck out the side in order while regularly hitting 97 MPH on the radar gun in just his second professional appearance since September, 2009...His first regular season appearance in over two years came Saturday night...Jamie finished the final four outs of that game, walking his first batter but retiring the next four...He hit 95 MPH on the radar gun in his debut...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 Saturday 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...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER:RHP Ryan Pressly was selected in the 11th round of the 2007 draft by the Red Sox out of Marcus (TX) High School...Spent all of 2011 with Salem... Started 26 games (tied team-high), and pitched 130.0 innings (team-high)...Went 6-11, 4.50 ERA...Against Lynchburg, went 4-1, 3.46 ERA in five starts...2010, was seventh among Red Sox minor league pitchers with a 3.72 ERA...Held opponents to three runs or less in 22 of his 24 starts for Greenville...His 24 starts was tied for second on the team...Pitched for Lowell in 2009, and tied for first on the team in strikeouts (64) and tied for second in wins (six)...Went three innings in his Opening Day start this season, allowing five runs, earned, on six hits and two walks, while striking out three...Currently 0-0, 15.00 ERA...
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