Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes
Published on July 3, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Hill City Howlers News Release
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (7-6, 41-42) vs. CAROLINA MUDCATS (8-6, 37-44)
Thursday, July 3, 2014 -- 7:00 PM
Five County Stadium
LHP Daniel Watts (0-1, 3.00) vs. RHP Michael Peoples (4-7, 4.88)
LAST TIME OUT: The Hillcats lost to the Carolina Mudcats last night 4-2...LF LeVon Washington put the Mudcats on top 1-0 with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first...Lynchburg took the lead in the second inning with a two-run homer from C Tyler Tewell...The Hillcats racked up five hits off LHP Ryan Merritt in the first two innings...Merritt then held the Hillcats without a hit from the third through the seventh...Meanwhile, Hillcats starter RHP Cody Scarpetta ran into trouble in the third inning...He walked four Mudcats and allowed a pair of singles...Two runs scored and the bases were left loaded...Carolina added their final run in the fourth off RHP Nate Hyatt...1B Joe Sever hit a sacrifice fly to center field...Scarpetta (2-2) suffered the loss for the Hillcats allowing three runs on six hits in three innings...He walked five and struck out three...Merritt (9-2) earned the win giving up just two runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in seven innings...The save went to LHP Elvis Araujo for throwing a scoreless ninth, his eighth of the season...The Hillcats remain in first place at 7-6 in the second half...
VS. CAROLINA: The Hillcats are 2-6 against the Mudcats this season...They were swept in three games at home May 5-7, and then took two of three at Five County Stadium May 12-14 ...Hillcats pitching holds a 6.81 ERA in the season series...They gave up a season-high 13 runs in Zebulon on May 13 in a 13-5 loss...The Mudcats are hitting .316 against the Hillcats and C Alex Monsalve is playing especially well batting .429 with a double and four RBIs overall in four games...He's 5-for-8 the past two nights with four RBIs...
NO-HIT HANGOVER: In the five games following throwing back-to-back no-hitters, the Hillcats have surrendered 36 runs, 32 earned, over 43 innings...That's good for a 6.70 ERA...Opponents are batting .307 (54-for-176) in these last five games and the Hillcats are 1-4 in this stretch...The Hillcats have also issued 27 walks in these five games...Overall this season, the Hillcats hold the second-worst ERA in the league at 4.47...
THREE'S A TREND: Last night the Hillcats lost a third consecutive game...This is the first stretch of consecutive losses for the Hillcats in the second half...Game 11 of the half started the slide...It took until game 16 the first half for the Hillcats to start a losing streak...That initial losing streak in the first half ended up lasting 10 games...This is just the fifth time all season that the 'Cats have lost multiple games in a row...This includes getting swept by the Mudcats at home May 5-7, a four-game slide against Winston-Salem and Myrtle Beach, and three-game drought against Myrtle Beach and Salem...
NOTICE A THEME ABOVE??: The Hillcats have not lost consecutive games to a Northern Division team with the exception of the 10-game losing streak at the end of April which included dropping six meetings with the Potomac Nationals...The four multiple game losing streaks since have exclusively included games against southern opponents...Overall the Hillcats are 24-17 against their rivals to the North, but are just 17-25 versus the Southern Division...Traveling south has been especially difficult as the Hillcats are 6-13 in southern ballparks...
LOOK AT CARROLL GO: OF Daniel Carroll swiped two bases last night, his second multi-steal game for the Hillcats this season...He now leads all current Hillcats with 12...The league leaders are still former Hillcats INF Jose Peraza (35) and OF Kyle Wren (33), who have been promoted to Double-A...Carroll still has a ways to go to catch them, but he's on a quicker pace the Wren stealing 12 bases in 27 games (44%), while Wren had 33 steals in 76 games (43%)...Peraza still was the most efficient with 35 swipes in 66 games (53%)...
DOES EVERYBODY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?: C Tyler Tewellwent 1-for-4 with a two-run home run last night...He now has three home runs in his last two games after hitting two Monday night against Myrtle Beach...It was the first multi-home run game of Tewell's career...Drafted in the 14th round in 2012, the Charlotte, NC native is playing in his third professional season...He now has 17 career home runs...His nine last year with Low-A Rome ranked second on the team...His five this year are tied for the most on the team...Now on a six-game hitting streak, batting .348 (8-for-23) with nine RBIs and five runs scored during this streak...Tewell's average is up to .284 from .273 because of this stretch...
AHRENS' TURNAROUND JUNE: 3B Kevin Ahrens snapped a seven-game hitting streak last night with an 0-for-3 effort..He batted .571 (16-for-28) with eight doubles, five RBIs, and six runs scored during this streak, and his average has shot up 32 points, from .258 to .290, the highest it's batting average has been all season...He batted .402 (33-for-82) in June after hitting .241 through April and May...He leads the Carolina League with 25 doubles this season, after tying for the lead in all of Minor League Baseball with 14 doubles in June...
TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Michael Peoples was selected in the 14th round of the 2012 draft by the Indians out of Western Oklahoma State University...He posted a 3.33 ERA in two years of junior college at Western Oklahoma and a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio...He also hit nine batters in 70 innings his sophomore season...The 6-5 righty was relatively unknown coming into the draft, but comes from a powerhouse junior college program that has produced draft picks every year since 2008, including current big leaguers Juan Perez (San Francisco) and former Hillcats short stop Andrelton Simmons (Atlanta)...Peoples went 1-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 2012 with Short-season Mahoning Valley...He began 2013 in the bullpen for Low-A Lake County...He made two starts in 11 appearances, posting a 1-2 record with a 2.64 ERA before getting called up to join the Mudcats rotation at the end of May...He made eight starts with Carolina and posted a 5.27 ERA causing him to repeat in the Carolina League this season...In one start against the Hillcats this season he gave up three runs in 5.1 innings on four hits including a two-run homer to OF Daniel Carroll...
Carolina League Stories from July 3, 2014
- Dash Drop Nationally-Televised Finale at Myrtle Beach - Winston-Salem Dash
- Hillcats Swept in Zebulon - Hill City Howlers
- Mudcats Storm Past Hillcats for Sweep - Carolina Mudcats
- P-Nats and Blue Rocks Postponed - Potomac Nationals
- Blue Rocks' Thursday Night Contest With P-Nats Postponed - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Keys and Red Sox Postponed - Frederick Keys
- Sox and Keys Series Finale Postponed - Salem RidgeYaks
- Blue Rocks Game Notes: July 3, 2014 - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Pelicans Game Notes: 8:05 vs. Winston-Salem - July 3, 2014 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Hill City Howlers
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes (July 3 at Myrtle Beach) - Winston-Salem Dash
- OF Courtney Hawkins placed on seven-day disabled list - Winston-Salem Dash
- Salem Red Sox Game Notes - Salem RidgeYaks
- Mudcats Game Notes - Carolina Mudcats
- Tonight's Pelicans Game to Go on as Scheduled - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Blue Rocks Blank P-Nats 4-0 in Shortened Affair Impacted by T-Storms - Potomac Nationals
- Blue Rocks Victorious In Rain-Shortened Game Against Nationals - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Pelicans Lose Despite Quality Start By Payano Birds Shut Out After Second Inning - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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