CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Nationals Game Notes July 30th

Published on July 30, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


TODAY: The Potomac Nationals will once again spend a weekend facing the class of the Southern Division when they host the first-place and red-hot Winston-Salem Dash in a four-game series from Pfitzner Stadium with game one scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Thursday night. Last week, the Salem Red Sox held the top spot in the South and the P-Nats took two of three from the Sox in Salem. Now Potomac will have to contend with the Dash who have won five in a row and eight of their last 10 to upend the Red Sox and reclaim the pole position in the Southern Division.

Winston-Salem is one of two teams (Lynchburg the other) who owns a winning record against the defending Mills Cup champions this season. The Dash lead the overall series 7-6 and are 4-2 against the P-Nats from "The Pfitz" in 2009. Potomac as a club is hitting .255 with 18 home runs in 13 games against Winston-Salem with 15 of those homers coming from Wake Forest Baseball Park. Chris Marrero has done a number on Winston pitching hitting .289 (11-for-38) with four homers 10 RBI in 11 games against the Dash. Winston-Salem's most dangerous bat in this season-series is Brent Morel who has clubbed four round-trippers and 11 RBI in 13 contests with the Nationals.

TODAY'S OPPOSING STARTER: RHP Johnnie Lowe, 24, was the 6th round selection of the Chicago White Sox in the June 2007 First-Year Draft out of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA. The former Sea Lions standout went 5-7 with a 4.10 EAR (45ER/98.2 IP) in 22 appearances (16 starts) with Low-A Kannapolis last season. He was the South Atlantic League's Pitcher of the Week from April 28 through May 4 after not allowing a run in 12.0 innings of work over two starts. Prior to the 2007 when he was drafted, Baseball America hailed Lowe as owning the Best Fastball in the White Sox 2007 Draft class. Prior to his time at PLNU, Lowe began his collegiate career at Grossmont College (CA) where he earned Pacific Coast Conference First Team All-League and Pitcher of the Year honors in 2006.

The right-hander was 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA in 6 starts in the month of June with his lone defeat coming against the P-Nats on June 9. In that game, he was touched for seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits in 5.2 IP and was paired against Washington Nationals southpaw Scott Olsen in the P-Nats 7-1 victory. Potomac received a second shot at Lowe on June 30 and touched the righty for a season-high six earned runs on 10 hits but the Dash bats came alive in an 11-6 win over the P-Nats from Wake Forest Baseball Park. Incidentally, that slugfest of a game was the last time Nationals starter Will Atwood suffered a loss as he opposed Lowe on that evening in Winston-Salem. Since that start, Lowe is 1-2 but has only allowed 9 ER over his last 25.2 IP in July and is coming off a start in which he tossed seven shutout innings against Myrtle Beach striking out six and walking one on July 25.

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