CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

Published on July 14, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


SALEM RED SOX (48-43, 7-15) vs LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (51-41, 12-10)

July 14th, 2012 -- 6:05 PM

Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium

RHP Matt Barnes (5-1, 3.48) vs RHP J.R. Graham (8-1, 2.76)

THE HILLCATS: Last night, the Hillcats beat the Salem Red Sox 1-0...RHP Cody Martin held the Red Sox to just two hits while tossing a complete game shutout...He also struck out a career-high 14 batters and won his 10th game of the season...1B Chris Garcia singled in the only run of the game in the third inning...The Hillcats are now 12-10 in the second half and in first place in the Northern Division...

VS. SALEM: Lynchburg is 9-7 against the Red Sox this year...Most recently the Hillcats swept the Red Sox in three games to open up the second half...After a rainout postponed the opener, the Hillcats beat the Red Sox with a walk-off squeeze bunt in game one 6/22 and RHP Aaron Northcraft followed that with a no-hitter in game two that night...The two clubs have met four times in Salem, spitting those contests 2-2...

SHUTOUT THE SOX: The Hillcats recorded their seventh shutout of the season last night, beating Salem 1-0...The Red Sox entered the day as the top hitting team in the league, but were held to just two hits and shutout for the sixth time this year, the league's lowest total...The Hillcats have now held the Sox scoreless twice...It was the Lynchburg staff's seventh shutout this year, and fifth that ended 1-0...

MARVELOUS MARTIN: RHP Cody Martin (10-6) threw his first career complete game shutout last night, striking out a career-high 14 batters...Shattered his previous best of eight strikeouts, and he went nine innings for the first time, after never going past seven before...Only one other nine-inning complete game shutout has been thrown this season in the Carolina League...RHP Matt Heidenreich threw it for Winston-Salem on June 25 (also against Salem) and has since been promoted to Double-A...Martin lowered his ERA from 3.13 to 2.80, which now ranks third in the circuit...Also ranks first in wins (10), second in strikeouts (101), and third in average against (.229)...

PICK YOUR POISON: Each member of the Hillcats' current five-man rotation ranks in the top 10 in ERA in the league...RHP J.R. Graham (8-1) ranks highest (2nd, 2.76), while LHP Dimasther Delgado (5-4) is 10th (3.62)...The quintet is 40-20 this season, getting credit for nearly 80 percent of the team's 51 wins...Only five pitchers have eight wins in the Carolina League and four don Hillcats uniforms...RHP Aaron Northcraft (8-5) also leads the league in strikeouts (103)...RHP Gus Schlosser (9-4) is second in innings pitched (112.1)...

WEAVER SEEING RED: INF/OF Matt Weaver went 2-for-4 with a home run Thursday...He now has nine homers in just 165 at-bats...Has a home run for every 18.33 at-bats this season, which would be the second-best rate in the league behind Frederick's 1B Aaron Baker (15.10 AB/HR), but Weaver does not have enough plate appearances to qualify...Still batting just .236 on the season, but against the Red Sox is hitting .267 with three home runs...

KNOCK AROUND GUY: 1B Chris Garcia went 1-for-3 last night with an RBI-single, driving in the would-be game-winning run in the third inning...Thursday night, he drove in a season-high four runs, which also matched his career-high, which he has done five times...He is hitting .300 (12-for-40) through 12 July games, and already has 11 RBI...This, after hitting just .229 with four RBI in June...His best power numbers came in May (3 HR, 20 RBI, 29 games)...On pace to beat those totals (2 HR, 11 RBI, 12 games)...

COME AND GET IT: SS Nick Ahmed scored last night's one and only run, and has now safely crossed the plate six times in his last five games...He is the Hillcats leading table-setter with 58 runs scored, which is tied for the second-best total in the Carolina League...He has also swiped his league-best 25th stolen base last night...Has now hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games, batting .302 (16-for-53) in that span...Has six doubles during that stretch, and 27 total on the year, tied with Salem 1B Travis Shaw for the league-lead...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Matt Barnes was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the first round (19th overall) of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Connecticut...Was ranked the Red Sox's No. 13 prospect by MLB.com entering the 2012 season...Went 11-5 with 1.93 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 17 starts as a junior at UConn...Was unanimously chosen Big East Pitcher of the Year, was named a Louisville Slugger and Baseball America All-American and selected to the Big East All-Academic Team in 2011...Won the Big East pitching Triple Crown, leading the conference in wins (11), strikeouts (97) and ERA (1.20) during the regular season...Pitched for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team in 2010...Started 2012 with the Low-A Greenville Drive...Went 2-0 with a 0.34 ERA in five starts...So far with Salem is 5-2 with a 3.48 ERA through 11 starts...Named to the Mid-season Carolina League All-Star team...In two starts against the Hillcats is 0-0 with a 9.39 ERA...Surrendered five runs in three and two-thirds innings in his last start at City Stadium...It was the most runs he'd given up and shortest outing of his career (Went 1.0IP 6/28 vs POT, and gave up six runs 7/3 at Myrtle Beach)...Including that night, Barnes is 0-1 with a 15.12 ERA over his last three starts...

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