CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Potomac Nationals Game Notes

Published on July 27, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


TODAY: The Potomac Nationals return home to begin a two week stretch where they'll play 14 home games over the next 18 days beginning with a brief three-game set against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Only a quick trip to Frederick from August 3-5 and one off day on August 10th will break up the longest remaining homestand of the 2009 season for the defending Mills Cup champions. Thankfully for Potomac, they are no longer playing like the club that went just 14-18 from Woodbridge in the first half of the season. Entering tonight's opener with the third-place Pelicans, the P-Nats have won their last three home games and own the best home record (9-2) in the Carolina League since the All-Star Break.

Myrtle Beach comes into this series having lost their last two games and have fallen back into third in the Southern Division. The Atlanta Braves Advanced-A affiliate is looking to repeat as division champions in the South but are now 3.5 games behind the first-place Salem Red Sox through 30 games in the second half. After matching their longest winning streak of three games in a series win over Wilmington from July 13-15, the Birds have dropped seven of their last 10 with four of those defeats coming by just one run.

TODAY'S OPPOSING STARTER: LHP Richard Sullivan, 21, was the 11th round selection of the Atlanta Braves in the 2008 Draft out of Savannah College of Art & Design. He's the second player ever drafted out of SCAD, following teammate and fellow pitcher Ryan Pope (Yankees, 2007). Prior to joining the Braves, Sullivan was named to the NAIA All-American second team in addition to being crowned as the Florida Sun Conference and NAIA Region XIV Player of the Year after leading the Bees to a school-record 33 wins. In his first professional season last year, Sullivan went a combined 4-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 12 games, all starts with Danville and Low-A Rome. After losing two of his first three starts with the R-Braves, Sullivan allowed just one earned run in four of his last five appearances.

The young left-hander has already played at three different levels of the Braves system in 2009 starting off with an impressive 4-1 record with the Low-A Rome Braves in the month of April. He soon moved up to pitch for the Pelicans where he started off strong going 2-1 in five May starts including a complete game shutout against Winston-Salem on May 27. Since then, Sullivan is winless losing his last six decisions with the Pelicans and went 0-1 with a 9.45 ERA after a brief call-up (three starts) to Double-A Mississippi at the end of June. Despite the lengthy losing skid, Sullivan has not allowed more than four earned runs in any of his 12 starts and is holdng opposing Carolina League hitters to just a .238 average this year. He yielded two runs on five hits in 5.2 IP from Pfitzner Stadium on June 7.

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Carolina League Stories from July 27, 2009


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