CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Nationals Game Notes July 15th

Published on July 15, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


The Potomac Nationals host the Lynchburg Hillcats in game three of their four-game set from Pfitzner Stadium on Wednesday night, beginning at 7:05 pm. With yesterday's win, Potomac won consecutive games against Lynchburg for the first time since July 17-18 of last season. Pittsburgh's Advanced-A affiliate went 7-3 against Potomac prior to the All-Star Break including taking two of three from the P-Nats from Woodbridge from May 22-24. But the tide could be turning in this season series as Trent Jewett's club has won four of the last six meetings with the Cats after losing five of first six to begin the year.

TODAY'S OPPOSING STARTER: RHP Matt McSwain, 23, was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 26, 2006 after attending Elon University in North Carolina. He had his sophomore year interrupted by Tommy John Surgery but still went on to earn a look from the Pirates organization in the summer of 2006. After spending some time in the Gulf Coast League in ‘06 and ‘07, McSwain made the jump to Low-A ball in 2007 with Hickory and went 3-2 with a 5.59 ERA. The right-hander struck out 50 in 58 innings and won all his decisions as a starter. In 2008, he started out as a reliever but was quickly converted to a starter after his first promotion to Lynchburg in April. He combined to go 6-7 between Hickory and the Hillcats in 43 games (12 starts). His personal best might have come in his start against Charleston on July 28th when he threw 8.0 no-hit innings in the Crawdads' 6-0 victory.

This season, McSwain was the Hillcats Opening Day starter and surrendered three runs on six hits while fanning four P-Nats on April 9 from Lynchburg. He enters tonight's action with the Lynchburg staff lead with eight victories and has won two of his three starts since the All-Star Break. Even though the wins are still there for the righty, it hasn't always been pretty as he's allowed nine hits in each of his last two starts and has an ERA of 7.20 (8ER/10.0 IP) in the month of July.

Check out the Potomac Nationals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from July 15, 2009


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.

OurSports Central