CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Potomac Nationals Game Notes

Published on July 31, 2008 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


POTOMAC NATIONALS (22-16, 64-44) VS. WINSTON-SALEM WARTHOGS (22-16, 52-55)

RHP JEFF MANDEL (4-3, 4.01) VS. RHP ANTHONY CARTER (4-2, 5.36)

July 31, 2008 -- 7:05 p.m.

G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium

Game #109/Home #58

Internet Webcast -- www.potomacnationals.com

TONIGHT: The Potomac Nationals and Winston-Salem Warthogs meet in game one of a four-game series...The P-Nats won for the first time in 34 games when trailing after eight innings, scoring three in the ninth for a 7-6 win and sweep of Wilmington....Potomac enters today 5.0 games ahead of Wilmington atop the Carolina League Northern Division.

TONIGHT'S STARTER: The Potomac Nationals send right-hander Jeff Mandel to the mound trying to extend the winning streak to five games...In his last outing against Frederick, the 23-year-old has his worst outing in a Potomac uniform last just 4 1/3 innings and giving up six runs on 10 hits while striking out only two and walking three...Prior to that outing, the Baylor University product had allowed three runs or fewer in 11 of his previous 13 outings...Mandel has fared better at home than on the road, going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA in four starts at the Pfitz while going 2-3 with a 5.23 ERA in six road starts...Four of the Houston-native's 10 starts have been either delayed or cut short due to rain including his last outing and his only start against Winston-Salem on June 10 where he shutout the Hogs for three innings on two hits before the game was suspended.

STILL STANDING TALL: The Potomac Nationals have only spent two days were they were not in or had a share of the division lead since moving to the top spot on April 10...Potomac had a string of 91 straight days in first place snapped with a 4-1 loss to Wilmington on July 9...Last season the Nationals spent 31 consecutive days in first from April 5 through May 5...The P-Nats ended the first half in last place, 10 games under .500 and only saw first place for one day, June 21, after May 5.

THE SOLANO OF SWAT: Jhonatan Solano connected on his first home run as a Potomac National and just his second of the season, tying the game at four in the bottom of the ninth last night...The 23-year-old had to wait 51 games and 161 at-bats between long balls having hit his last home run on April 15 at Delmarva while a member of the Hagerstown Suns...Playing on a more regular basis with Brian Peacock on the Disabled List, Solano has picked up his offensive production batting .293 in 17 July games after hitting .250 in 11 games in June and just .160 in 16 games in May...The non-drafted free agent pick up had three career homers coming into this season, all coming with the Suns last season.

GETTING OFFENSIVE: The Potomac Nationals offense has made a dramatic turnaround over the last four games going a combined 58-for-149 (.389) against Frederick and Wilmington scoring 41 runs on six doubles, a triple, and four homers with 17 walks and 22 strikeouts...During the previous two contests against Frederick, the P-Nats went a combined 6-for-59 (.102) at the plate on all singles with only three runs scored while walking seven times and striking out 16...Potomac has blasted Frederick and Wilmington by a combined 41-16 score after being thumped 9-3 in the first two games of the series against the Keys.

MICHAEL MARTINEZ MANIA: Michael Martinez has hits in a season-best eight straight contests after going 1-for-4 last night...The 25-year-old is 12-for-37 (.324) with a double, a triple, eight RBI and five runs scored...He has reached base safely in 17 straight contests and is tied with Dee Brown for the current team lead in multi-hit games with 20.

GOING STREAKING: Andrew Lefave went 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk last night to extend his on-base streak to 21 straight games...The run started on July 4 and is the second-longest current streak in the Carolina League trailing only Salem's Jordan Parraz (31)...The 24-year-old is hitting .286 over the streak with 12 RBI and 18 runs scored...The former South Atlantic League batting champion has drawn 17 walks over his last 21 games and has 20 total in 26 games, 90 at-bats, with the P-Nats.

DEE-STROYING THE BALL: Dee Brown has been on a tear over his last 12 games going 19-for-41 (.463) with three doubles, a home run and 12 RBI...The 25-year-old began the run with a career-best 5-for-5 performance against the Lynchburg Hillcats on July 18 and has raised his batting average from .255 to .289...After hitting just .204 in 16 in May, the former 10th-round pick has bounced back hitting .324 with 22 RBI in 21 games in June and now .343 in 20 games in July.

I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON: Infielder Trevor Lawhorn has hits in 10 of his last 12 games going 14-for-45 (.311) with three doubles, four home runs, 12 RBI and 13 runs scored...The 25-year-old has hits in five straight contests going 7-for-21 (.333) at the plate with a double, a homer, eight RBI and seven runs scored...The former East Carolina University standout has raised his average from .231 to .260.

CALL THE DOCTOR: After seeing a six-game hit streak come to an end on Friday night in Frederick, Aaron Seuss is just 2-for-21 (.095) over his last five games...The 23-year-old was 9-for-25 (.360) with a double, a home run and seven RBI over his longest hit streak with the P-Nats...The 27th-round pick in last June's draft has struck out 21 times and walked just once in 101 at-bats with Potomac...He struck out 49 times and walked only 13 in 286 at-bats with Low-A Hagerstown prior to his promotion on June 30...The California-native has shown the ability to get hot, racking up a 12-game hit streak with the Suns over which he hit .500 (23-for-56) eight multi-hit games including a 4-for-6 performance on May 27 at Kannapolis.

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Carolina League Stories from July 31, 2008


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