Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on May 5, 2013 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (15-12) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (13-16)
May 5th, 2013 -- 2:05 PM
Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium
RHP Jarett Miller (2-0, 1.80) vs. LHP John Lamb (2-2, 3.58)
THE HILLCATS: Celebrated their first walk-off win of the season last night, beating the Wilmington Blue Rocks 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch...The Blue Rocks committed four errors, three of which occurred in the ninth to allow two unearned runs to score...The 'Cats were trailing 2-1 entering the final frame...Back-to-back errors on sacrifice bunt attempts by the closer RHP Robinson Yambati loaded the bases with nobody out...With the game tied 2-2, runners at second and third, two outs, OF David Rohm scored the game-winning run with C Cory Brownsten at the plate...RHP Nate Hyatt earned his first win of the season tossing a scoreless ninth inning for Lynchburg...The Hillcats are now 15-12, still in first place in the Northern Division...
VS. WILMINGTON: The Hillcats are 1-1 versus the Blue Rocks this season with both games being decided by just one run...Last year, 13 of the 20 regular season contests between these two clubs were decided by a single score...The 'Cats took a slight edge winning seven of those close match-ups..Lynchburg also won the clinching game of the Northern Division Championship Series 2-1 last year...The 2012 regular season series was split 10-10...
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: With the one-run win last night the Hillcats improved to just 3-4 in games decided by one score...The Blue Rocks are now 6-5...The 'Cats also scored last as they won in walk-off fashion and lead the league with an 8-2 record when scoring last in a games...
WILD FINISH: The walk-off win last night, on a wild pitch, was the first for the Hillcats since they won the Mills Cup Championship on a walk-off sacrifice fly last September...The Hillcats had seven regular season walk-off wins a year ago, and six come-from-behind wins when trailing in the seventh inning or later...They now have three such comeback victories already this season...
BATTING BLUES: The Hillcats escaped with a win last night despite their offense being fairly non-existent throughout the weekend...After hitting .278 in as a unit in the four-game series against Winston-Salem, the 'Cats are batting just .111 (6-for-54) against Blue Rocks pitching...Last night, the number one prospect in the Royals' system, RHP Kyle Zimmer no-hit the Hillcats through five innings...OF Matt Lipka finally broke up the no-no with a leadoff bunt single in the sixth and came around to score the Hillcats first run of the game...
LA STELLAR RETURN: 2B Tommy La Stella missed nearly all of Spring Training and almost the entire first month of the season before getting activated from disabled list Monday...He is 10-for-16 with a home run, three RBI, six runs scored, seven walks, and a hit by pitch in his first six games back...Last season, he missed six weeks with a broken leg and went 10-for-12 in his first four games back...Ended up batting .593 (16-for-27) over the final two weeks of the season raising his average from .273 to .302...Tonight, La Stella plans to play all nine innings at second base for the first time this year...He play five innings Friday, and seven frames last night...
ROCK HANDS: Lynchburg is no longer the league leader in errors after both the Blue Rocks and the Frederick Keys committed four errors last night...The Blue Rocks now lead the circuit with 45 miscues, and the Keys are tied with the Hillcats with 44 for second-most...The 'Cats and Rocks are still tied for the worst fielding percentage at .959...The Hillcats meanwhile did not commit an error last night, putting together back-to-back mistake-free games for just the second time this season...Lynchburg has recorded four errorless contests in their last six games...
LIPKA BACK LEADING OFF: OF Matt Lipka is back in the leadoff spot for the first time since April 23 tonight...He moved down in the order on April 25 and hit for the cycle from the seven slot...He was batting just .174 in the top spot, but has batted .323 (10-for-31) in nine games batting seventh or sixth...The night he hit for the cycle was the first night he had started in a spot lower than second in the lineup...He has five hits in his last five game, and has scored five runs...He drove in eight runs in his last nine games not leading off, doubling his season RBI total to 16...Drove in eight in 17 games as leadoff hitter...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: LHP John Lamb was selected in the fifth round of the 2008 draft by the Royals out of Laguna Hills High School...Won a conference championship his junior year, posting a 9-2 record and a 1.48 ERA...Also batted .396 and won Pacific Coast League Player of the Year honors...Missed his entire senior season due to a car accident...Professional debut came in 2009 with Rookie-level Burlington (2-2, 3.95)...Played with four levels in 2010, Rookie-level Idaho Falls, Low-A Burlington, Hi-A Wilmington, and Double-A Northwest Arkansas...Listed as having the "Best Changeup" in the system going into 2011...Made eight starts for Northwest Arkansas before needing "Tommy John"surgery...Made only six starts in 2012...Surrendered 10 earned runs in 13 innings at the Rookie-level...Enters 2013 as the 11th-rated prospect in the organization...Hasn't allowed more than two runs...
Carolina League Stories from May 5, 2013
- Errors, Four-Run Sixth Hand Hillcats Series Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Wilmington Series Scheduling Note - Potomac Nationals
- Mudcats Walk 13 in One-Run Loss to Keys - Carolina Mudcats
- Patience Rewards Frederick - Frederick Keys
- Taylor Walk-Off Single Sinks Pelicans 3-2 in Series Finale - Potomac Nationals
- Dash Fall in Rubber Match against Red Sox - Winston-Salem Dash
- Red Sox Down Dash 7-3 to Take Series - Salem RidgeYaks
- Hillcats Offense Comes Alive to Win Series - Hill City Howlers
- Pelicans Drop Series Finale in Walk-Off Fashion - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Salem Red Sox Game Notes - Salem RidgeYaks
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes (May 5 vs. Salem) - Winston-Salem Dash
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Hill City Howlers
- Ravelo Placed on DL - Winston-Salem Dash
- Pelicans Media Notes at Potomac - 1:05 p.m. EST - Game 3 of 3 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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.
