Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on June 13, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
CAROLINA MUDCATS (30-35) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (35-30)
June 13th, 2012 -- 7:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Danny Salazar (0-2, 3.86) vs LHP Chris Masters (0-1, 7.71)
THE HILLCATS: Last night, the Hillcats swept a doubleheader from the Carolina Mudcats, winning 2-1 in game one, and 8-1 in game two...DH Adam Milligan singled in a a run in the first inning of game one and then hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off win...In game two, J.R Graham pitched 5+ innings and gave up just one run on three hits on his way to his eighth win of the year...Milligan continued his day at the plate with a solo homer in the night cap...The second win clinched the first half Northern Division title for the 'Cats...They are now 35-30 on a five-game winning streak and have secured a playoff spot come September...
VS. CAROLINA: Lynchburg is 4-6 against the Mudcats this season...They have played two four-game series and lost three out of four each time, once on the road and most recently at home...With two wins yesterday, the 'Cats clinched their first series win over the Mudcats ever...The Mudcats are the new Hi-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, moving from Kinston last year...The Mudcats have outscored the Hillcats by just three runs, 46-43 this season...Only two games have been decided by more than three runs...
SORRY MR. MORA: It's only June and we're already talking playoffs...The Hillcats clinched a first half Northern Division championship last night with two wins over the Mudcats...They will meet the winner of the second half in the playoffs in September...The Hillcats are 5.5 games up on the Potomac Nationals with five game to play (Nationals have six)...But the 'Cats own the head-to-head tiebreaker, so should Potomac win out, and Lynchburg lose, the Hillcats would still win...This will be the first playoff appearance for Lynchburg since they won the Mills cup in 2009...Last year the Hillcats never even saw a .500 record...
SEE YA IN WINSTON: The Carolina League announced their All-Star selections Monday...The Hillcats will have five representatives, RHP J.R. Graham, 1B Chris Garcia, 2B Tommy La Stella, SS Nick Ahmed, and C Braeden Schlehuber...Graham leads the league in wins (8) and is tied for third in ERA (2.53)...Garcia ranks seventh in the league in batting (.317), second in on-base percentage (.430) and second in walks (40)...La Stella is the only Hillcat in the starting lineup...He leads the Hillcats and all second baseman in RBI (38), also is fifth most in the circuit...Ahmed is tied for the league-lead in stolen bases (20) and leads all shortstops in chances, assists, putouts, and double plays...Schlehuber is hitting .313, which would rank eighth in the league, but he is 26 plate appearances short of qualifying...He also has a career-high six home runs already this season...
LIGHTS OUT: RHP J.R. Graham turned in another stellar start last night...He was on his way to his ninth quality start of the season when the power shutoff abruptly at Lynchburg City Stadium with nobody on and nobody out in the top of the sixth...Graham had already thrown five innings, only giving up one run on three hits...After a 24-minute delay, he would not return to the game...LHP Chasen Shreve completed the final two innings and Graham won his league-leading eighth game of the season while lowering his ERA to 2.53 (T-3rd)...
WALKING OFF: OF Adam Milligan hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to give the Hillcats the win in game one last night...It was the third walk-off win for the Hillcats this season...Coincidentally, Milligan's last walk-off hit was an RBI-single June 6, 2011 for the Hillcats, and it was the third one for Lynchburg that season as well...The Hillcats never recorded another walk-off the rest of the season...
STELLA: 2B Tommy La Stella went 4-for-7 with a triple, two RBI, and a run scored last night, playing in both ends of the doubleheader...He scored the game-winning run in the first game and drove in his 37th and 38th runs of the year in game two...Now ranks fifth in the league in RBI...The 4-for-7 effort raised his average ten points (.263 to .273)...He's now on a four-game hitting streak, with three straight two-hit games...He is 7-for-15 (.467) during the streak with a double, a triple, three RBi, and three runs scored...Now leads the Hillcats with three triples this season...
SCHLE' RIDE: C Braeden Schlehuber went 2-for-3 and scored three runs in game two last night...Has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, he is 14-for-29 (.483) in the stretch with three doubles, a triple, a home run, five RBI, and eight runs scored...Has raised his batting average 46 points, from .267 to .313 in that stretch...Has his season clip above .300 for the first time since April 25, when he was hitting .324, ten games into the season...The home run was his sixth of the year, which is a new single-season career-high, and the triple was just the second one of his five-year career...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Danny Salazar was signed as non-drafted free agent by the Indians July 3, 2006 when he was 16 years-old...The Santo Domingo, DR native began his career in 2007 with the DSL Indians...Went 5-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 14 starts...Moved up to the GCL Indians in 2008...Went 4-2 with a 2.87 ERA (9th-best in the league)...Has spent all or part of his last three season with Low-A Lake County...After throwing a career-high 107.1 innings in 2009, he was shut down after seven starts in 2010 with right elbow soreness...Eventually need reconstructive right elbow surgery...Spent the first four months of the 2011 season rehabbing in Arizona before making five starts for the AZL Indians and then three starts for Lake County...Pitched for the Roneros De Carta Vieja who won the Panamanian Winter League in the offseason...Started this year with Hi-A Carolina...He is 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA in seven starts...First start against the Hillcats tonight...Has started 67 games in his career and made only one relief appearance (8/22/09, 5IP, 5H, 4ER, 2BB, 1K)...
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