CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Mills Cup Game Notes

Published on September 14, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


MILLS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GAME ONE

LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (3-2, 73-66) vs. SALEM RED SOX (3-0, 67-72)

September 14th, 2009 -- 6:05 PM @ Lynchburg City Stadium

LHP Justin Wilson (0-1, 1.80) vs. RHP Eammon Portice (0-0, 0.00)

THE HILLCATS: Lynchburg won 5-2 over Wilmington last night at City Stadium in game five of the best of five Northern Division Championship Series...It was a winner take all contest and the Hillcats won their second straight game over the Blue Rocks to take the Northern Division Championship...The Cats improved to 5-1 in the NDCS...Tonight is the first game of the best of five Mills Cup Championship against Salem...This marks the second time the two 460 rivals have met in the post-season and the first time they have met playing for a Carolina League Championship...

460 SERIES: Tonight is the first game of the best of five Northern Division Championship Series between Lynchburg (45-24, 28-42, 73-66), the Northern Division Champions, and Salem (32-37, 35-35, 67-72), the Southern Division Champs...It is a 2-3 format with Lynchburg hosting the first two games at City Stadium with the final three games (games four and five if necessary) at Salem Memorial Ballpark...Lynchburg has been to the Carolina League finals 13 times, four times as the Hillcats...They are 5-8 in the championship round thus far and the Hillcats are 2-2...The Cats last played for a CL title in 2003 and were swept by Winston-Salem...Their last league title was in 2002 when they beat Kinston three games to one...This is Lynchburg's 19th trip to the post-season in the Carolina League and the sixth for the Hillcats...This is Salem's 10th trip into the Carolina League post-season (in 1974 their was no post-season and Salem was awarded Mills Cup), their first as the Red Sox...They have played in Mills Cup series five times and won three of those series (not including 1974)...They last played in the championship round in 2007 and lost three games to one to the Frederick Keys...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats went 10-10 against the Red Sox in the 460 rivalry this season, 5-5 at City Stadium and 5-5 at Memorial Ballpark...In the all-time series Lynchburg leads 467-459, they are 256-205 at Calvin Falwell Field and 160-172 at Lewis-Gale Field...The Cats batted .261 against the Sox and had a 3.42 ERA...The Sox batted .272 against the Cats with a 3.83 ERA...

UNDERDOG ON TOP: Last night Lynchburg won game five of the NDCS over Wilmington to win the Northern Division Championship...The Hillcats were tied for the worst record in the Carolina League in the second half of the season (28-42) and the Blue Rocks had the best record in the CL in the second part of the year (46-24)...The Cats went 5-15 against the Rocks during the regular season and entered the post-season with a nine-game losing streak against them...Wilmington was the only team in the Carolina League with a winning record versus Lynchburg this season...After July 24th, the Blue Crew went 33-10 after they started the second half 13-14...The Green & Gold dropped game one, but won three out of the next four games to take the best of five series...

OFFENSE RESURFACING: Lynchburg scored 10 runs in the last two games of the NDCS after they scored just two runs in the first three games of the series (29 innings)...They had went 3-for-29 (.104) with men in scoring position in those first three contests and then finished 6-for-16 (.375) in the final two games...All five of their runs last night came with two outs...

SENSATIONAL STAFF: The Hillcats pitching staff is posted a 1.72 ERA (nine earned runs in 47 innings) in the NDCS...Four of the nine earned runs they allowed came in game one of the series...In the last four games they had a 1.18 ERA (five earned runs in 38 innings)...At one point, they had thrown 20 straight shutout frames...The five Hillcats starters combined to allow three earned run in 28 and 1/3 innings of work (0.95 ERA)...

LATE LIFT: Lynchburg scored six runs in the final three innings of the last two games of the series combined...The Hillcats had not scored a run after the sixth inning in their last ten games played prior to those two contests...

HUBER'S HEAVES: OF Erik Huber had two outfield assists in last night's game, both times throwing out a potential tying run at home plate from left field...He also went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a run scored for the Hillcats...Huber was sent down to Low-A West Virginia with three games remaining in the season, bu was recalled after OF Starling Marte went down with an injury...Last night was his first appearance in the NDCS...

THE BEARCAT IS BACK: UTIL Josh Harrison went 2-for-3 with a double, four RBI and a walk last night...After his flyout in the first inning a night ago, he was 0-for-18 in the series...He drove-in four of the five runs the Hillcats scored and his three-run double in the seventh proved to be the difference in the 5-2 win...

LOVING THE LIMELIGHT: RHP Bryan Morris tossed six and 2/3 innings last night and only allowed one earned run...It matched the longest effort of his career and he earned the win in the deciding game of the NDCS...Morris was 0-3 with an 11.68 ERA in three starts against Wilmington prior to last night's outing..

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER: RHP Eammon Portice was selected by the Red Sox in the 12th round of 2007 draft out of High Point University...In his three years with the Panthers, he went a combined 19-17 with a 3.99 ERA in 51 games (48 starts) as a member of the Big South Conference...He made his professional debut in 2007 with Short-Season Low-A Lowell and went 0-2 with a 5.01 ERA in 14 games in relief with the Spinners...Last season he made two appearances (one start) with the GCL Red Sox and did not allow a run, but he spent the majority of the season with full season Low-A Greenville...With the Drive he posted a 4-4 record with a 3.64 ERA in 18 games (11 starts) in the South Atlantic League...This season he progressed to Advanced-A and went 8-8 with a 4.35 ERA in 25 starts with Salem...Portice made four starts against Lynchburg this season, he went 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA in his four starts versus the Hillcats thus far...

HOPING FOR DEJA VU: In 2002 Lynchburg lost the season series to Wilmington 15-5 and lost game one of the NDCS by six runs (9-3), before winning the next game with a shutout en route to taking the best of three series...This season the Blue Rocks went 15-5 against the Hillcats and won game one by six (7-1) before the Cats came back and won game two with a shutout victory...The 2002 season was the last time Lynchburg won the Carolina League...

ATTENDANCE TOPPING: On Wednesday night the Hillcats broke their all-time attendance record that was set in 2007...Two years ago 164,413 fans filed through the gates to set the mark...After last night the 2009 attendance now sits at 164,998...The Cats have drawn more than 148,000 every season since the renovation of City Stadium was completed in 2004...

TIMING IS EVERYTHING: In the second half of the season Lynchburg batted 13 points higher than they did in the first half of the season (.259, .246 in the first) to raise their overall batting average to .253...However, after batting .267 with men in scoring position in the first half, they hit just .231 with RISP in the second to lower their season average to .248...

FIRST TO WORST: Lynchburg went 45-24 en route to their first half Northern Division Championship, the best record in the Carolina League in the opening half...In the second half though, the Hillcats went 28-42, which put them in last place in the division and tied them for the worst record in the league...Frederick in 1997 was the last team to go from first to last, they went two and out in their best of three series...

FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM: Over the last 10 games of the season Lynchburg collected 11 sacrifice hits (six sacrifice flies and five bunts)...All six of the sac flies came off the bat of INF Jordy Mercer, who led the team with 14 sac flies and 17 sac hits on the season...He had six sac flies in his last nine games played...The Hillcats had 98 sacrifice hits on the season, second most in the Carolina League...Their 52 sac flies were the most in the circuit...

BATTERED AND BRUISED: The Hillcats were hit by a pitch nine times in the last five games...On the season Lynchburg was hit by a pitch 97 times, the most of any team in the Carolina League...The next closest in the circuit is Winston-Salem with 72...

THIRTY SOMETHING: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette updated their top 30 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system toward the end of the season with significant input from four of the top people in baseball operations...Of those thirty, seven are currently on the Hillcats roster, RHP Bryan Morris (9), LHP Jeff Locke (10), INF Chase d'Arnaud (11), LHP Rudy Owens (14), INF Jordy Mercer (23), UTIL Josh Harrison (26), RHP Nate Adcock (27)...Former Hillcat 3B Pedro Alvarez is still rated as the number one prospect in the system...

QUITE THE CATCH: C Tony Sanchez hit his first home run as a Hillcat last night in the top of the eighth inning to give Lynchburg a 4-2 lead that they would not relinquish...The Cats added him to their roster with three games left to play in the regular season, promoted from Low-A West Virginia...Sanchez was the fourth overall pick by the Pirates out of Boston College in this year's draft and was batting .316 with 15 doubles, seven home runs and 46 RBI in 41 games played for the Power...He is the third fourth overall pick and the fourth top five overall pick to play for Lynchburg in the last two seasons (Pedro Alvarez, Daniel Moskos and Brad Lincoln)...

SLIPPING AWAY: Entering the seventh inning on Monday, Lynchburg led 5-1 before allowing five runs in the final three innings...The Hillcats relinquished an advantage of four runs or more in two of the final three games of the season...The six-run lead they blew on Saturday night was the biggest lead they lost this season...In the first half of the season the Cats only lost after leading nine times in 69 games...In the second half they blew a lead 21 times in 70 contests...They also came back to win 23 times in the first half and only rallied to win 14 times in the second part of the campaign...

SECRET OF THE GOO: 1B Matt Hague went 1-for-4 last night and is batted .368 (7-for-19) in the series with two doubles, a triple, an RBI and a run scored...He batted .314 (32-for-102) in August and was third in the Carolina League in the regular season with his .293 clip...

RUDY RED: LHP Rudy Owens dealt six scoreless innings on Thursday night and picked up his first playoff win for Lynchburg...It was the 12th time this year the lefty has picked up a win, his longest start as a Cat and he matched his most strikeouts while donning the Green & Gold...This season he was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the South Atlantic League...The left-hander was also named by the SALLY to the post-season All-Star team...This after the southpaw was named the best pitching prospect in the SAL, with the best change-up and best control by Baseball America in their recent best tools article...He has also earned Pitcher-of-the-Week honors three times (twice in the SAL and once in the Carolina League)...And the starter was a mid-season All-Star selection as well...

LOCKED IN: LHP Jeff Locke tossed five and 2/3 scoreless innings on Friday night in game three of the NDCS...In his last eight starts of the regular season the southpaw was 3-0 with a 2.58 ERA (13 earned runs in 45 and 1/3 innings)...In those eight appearances Locke has allowed one run or less six times...His last start of the regular campaign against Salem was his first outing this season with Lynchburg that he didn't allow a run in...

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: RHP Matt McSwain and RHP Ronald Uviedo were in the starting rotation to start the season and into the second half...Both have switched to a bullpen role and both played a key role in the NDCS win...McSwain earned a hold and a win with four scoreless innings of relief...Uviedo was 2-for-2 in save opportunities in the series...Out of McSwain's 90 games pitched in the regular season, 44 of them have been in relief...Uviedo has pitched 139 regular season games and 109 of them have been in relief...The right-hander has recorded 31 saves in the regular season, including three this season for the Hillcats...

GETTIN' ON AND GETTIN' IN: INF Chase d'Arnaud went 0-for-4 in the season finale with a walk and a steal...He finished the season with 30 runs scored in his last 30 contests and had a .430 OBP (58-for-135) in those games...He hit in 25 of his last 30 games and batted .331 (40-for-121) over that time...The infielder was also chosen as one of the six representatives of the Pirates in the prestigious Arizona Fall League this off-season...The former fourth round pick was 1-for-16 in the NDCS before his solo home run in the ninth inning last night...

DRIVING 'EM IN: INF Jordy Mercer went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored on Monday afternoon...He drove in 22 runs in his last 24 games of the season and brought home a run in eight straight games (12 in those contests) prior to the final game of the campaign...He hit in 21 of his last 24 games and over that time he batted .304 (28-for-92) with six doubles, three homers, 22 RBI, 12 runs scored, seven walks and two stolen bases...He batted .303 (30-for-99) in August after he hit .226 (26-for-115) in July...Mercer led the Hillcats, finished fifth in the Carolina League and is currently second in the farm system with 83 RBI...He also was first in the league with 36 doubles...

THREE-BAGGIN': OF Alex Presley led the league this season with 11 triples and set the all-time single season record for the Hillcats...In 2006 he led the New York-Penn League in triples with three and he tied the scool record for three-baggers at Ole Miss with 14...

MAC ATTACK: RHP Matt McSwain was named Carolina League Pitcher of-the-Week for the week of August 17th-23rd...It marked the second time this season a Hillcat hurler has garnered the award (LHP Rudy Owens, August 3rd-9th)...The right-hander now led the team with 11 wins and 144 and 1/3 innings...He tied for second in the league in wins, was third in innings pitched and sixth in earned run average (3.43)...McSwain was the Hillcats first 11-game winner since 2002...

RUSTED ROMAK: After returning from the Disabled List on August 11th, OF Jamie Romak batted .190 (19-for-100) with 28 strikeouts in 26 games played...The former Atlanta Braves farmhand has spent parts of three season with Lynchburg and his 36 home runs as a Hillcat sits three homers shy of Josh Bonifay for the most homers in team history...He is also 3rd in team history in doubles with 55 two-baggers...Romak did have four hits in his last three games played in the regular season (4-for-12), three of which were doubles...

PUT IN A PICKLE: RHP Harrison Bishop held opposing batters to a .184 batting average with the bases empty this season...With men in scoring position batters hit .373 versus the right-hander...

LOOKING FOR THE REAL THING: In the first three months of the season (31 and 1/3 innings) RHP Mike Colla only allowed three earned runs and was sporting a 0.86 ERA...After that though he had a 7.56 ERA (28 earned runs in 33 and 1/3 innings) the rest of the season to up his overall earned run average to 4.31...

BORN TO RUN: UTIL Jose De Los Santos stole 53 bases this season in 61 attempts (87% success rate)...Last year he stole 28 bags in 48 tries (58%)...He led the team in swipes, was third in the Carolina League and it was the fourth most stolen bases in a season in Hillcats history...His 67 steals in his career for Lynchburg places him third on the all-time list...

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Carolina League Stories from September 14, 2009


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