CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on April 16, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (7-2) @ SALEM RED SOX (4-5)

April 16th, 2012 -- 7:05 PM

LewisGale Field

RHP Cody Martin (2-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Keith Couch (1-1, 5.40)

THE HILLCATS: Sunday, the Hillcats ran away with a 13-2 victory over the Potomac Nationals...The 'Cats tallied 20 hits as a unit, five of which came from catcher Evan Gattis, who finished the afternoon 5-for-6 with a home run and six RBI...RHP Aaron Northcraft turned in a quality start of six innings while surrendering just two runs, and earned his second win of the season...The Hillcats are now 7-2, and still in first place in the Northern Division...

VS. SALEM: Lynchburg took two of three from the Red Sox at Lynchburg City Stadium last week...They still trail in the All-Time series154-180...Tonight is the first match-up of the year at LewisGale field where the Hillcats were 3-7 last year, and lost their first five games against the Red Sox...Overall last year, Lynchburg lost the season series 7-13...

SUPER SERIAL: The 'Cats blew out the Nationals 13-2 yesterday and coasted to their third straight series win of the season...They have won each series so far this year, sweeping Potomac at home opening weekend, then taking two out of three last week at home against Salem, and finally taking two of three from Potomac up in Woodbridge this past weekend...They have another three game set starting tonight on the road in Salem...Lynchburg is 2-3 in series openers this season, 3-0 in middle games of three-game sets, and 2-1 in finales...

BEAUTIFUL DAY: Temperatures were in the 80s Sunday afternoon in Woodbridge, VA, a perfect day for baseball, at least if you were on the Hillcats side...Lynchburg set season-high marks with 13 runs, 20 hits, and and ten extra-base hits in the game...They matched their season-high for hits in an inning (4) twice in the third and fifth innings and matched their home runs in a game (2) mark...Individually, catcher Evan Gattis set team-highs for hits (5) and RBI (6)...Both numbers were also career-highs for Gattis...

FIRST!: When the Hillcats score first this season, they are 7-0...Their opponents scored first last Thursday and Friday this past week and the Hillcats lost both games...Of the seven games that Lynchburg has scored first in, six have seen the 'Cats score in the first inning...When scoring first last season, the Hillcats were 37-23...

THEY CAN PITCH TOO: Lynchburg's pitching staff has held opponents to three or less runs in all but two games so far this season...Those two blemishes were a 10-8 loss last Thursday in extra innings, and an 11-4 loss last Friday...The Hillcats have won the other seven games of the season in which they've only need four runs or less to win (although they've scored quite a bit more)...The starter are 6-1 so far this season and the bullpen has struck out 36 batters in 30.1 innings pitched...

FIRST TIME AWAY FROM HOME: Friday night was the Hillcats first road game of the season, and it did not go well for the club...After posting a 5-1 record through their opening six-game home stand, the 'Cats took a one-sided loss at Pfitzner Stadium, 11-4...Lynchburg trailed in a total of three innings throughout 54 innings of baseball at home this past week...Friday night, they trailed from the bottom of the first inning on by five or more runs...The 'Cats bounced back with two straight road wins to take the series 2-1...

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...

IS THIS EVAN?: C Evan Gattis saw his six-game hitting streak and season-long seven game on-base streak come to an end Saturday night in Potomac when he went 0-for-4...He quickly bounced back with a 5-for-6 effort on Sunday...Hit a three-run homer, doubled, and singled three times, while driving in a career-high six runs...The 2011 'Sally' League batting champ and post-season All-Star is leading the league in batting (.469), RBI (14), on-base percentage (.525), slugging (.844), and total bases (27)...Also tied for league lead in home runs (3)...Gattis has only played catcher and designated hitter this season, but figures to see time in the outfield at some point this year as well...The new position may help Gattis move up in the organization sooner rather than later...

SNAPPING THE STREAK: OF Robby Hefflinger went 0-for-4 with a strikeout last night, snapping his season-long eight-game hitting streak...He was the last player in the Carolina League to go hitless in a game while starting in each of his team's games the whole season...His batting average dropped from .429 (12-for-28) to .375 (12-for-32), but he still ranks seventh in the league...Leads the league in extra-basehits (8), tied for the league in doubles (6) with teammate OF David Rohm, second in slugging (.750), and tied for second in total bases (24)...Hefflinger started 2011 with Lynchburg but was reassigned to Low-A Rome after a slow start...Safe to say he has made it clear he belongs at this level early on this season...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Keith Couch was selected in the 13th round in 2010 by the Boston Red Sox...He signed out of Adelphi University in New York...Originally from Elmont, NY (20 miles east of Manhattan)...He began his career with the Lowell Spinners in the Short-Season Classs-A New York Penn League...Went 1-6 with a 4.39 ERA in 14 appearances, 11 starts...Struck out 43 in 55.1 innings...Spent last year in the Low-A 'Sally' League, with the Greenville Drive...Went 7-5 with 3.54 ERA in 28 appearances, 18 starts...Led the team in strikeouts (123), finished ninth in the league in ERA...Best control in Red Sox organization according to Baseball America...Is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA this year...Surrendered five runs in four innings at Lynchburg last Wednesday...

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Carolina League Stories from April 16, 2012


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