SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Game Notes

Published on August 10, 2012 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


West Virginia Power (26-21, 49-68) at Lexington Legends (26-21, 65-51)

Game 118 | August 10, 2012 | Whitaker Bank Ballpark | Lexington, KY

Radio: ESPN Radio 104.5 FM & 1490 and wvpower.com Air Time- 6:45 p.m.

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

LH Porfirio Lopez (2-2, 6.45) vs. RH Jonas Dufek (5-2, 5.18)

Lopez: Allowed 0 R on 5 H with 4 K and 3 BB over 5.0 IP in 8/04 Win vs. LWD (9-1 Power)

Dufek: Allowed 4 R on 2 H over 5.0 IP with 2 K and 5 BB in 8/03 ND @ HAG (6-3 Suns)

POWER REPLAY: West Virginia knocked off Lexington 8-3 on the strength of five home runs Thursday night. Gregory Polanco hit two and Taylor Lewis, Dan Gamache, and Jose Osuna each added one long ball to account for seven of the eight Power runs. Nick Kingham was the benefactor of the outburst, pitching five and two-thirds for his fifth win this season.

POWER V. LEGENDS: West Virginia and Lexington continue their final series of the season tonight. The Power lead the all-time series 78-74 and hold a 42-35 mark at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

RELIEVERS ROTATED: On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted Orlando Castro from State College and transferred Ryan Hafner to the Spikes roster. Castro returns for his third stint with the Power this season. The southpaw has gone 2-6 with West Virginia with a 5.91 ERA over 12 apperances in the SAL this season. While with the Spikes, Castro was 1-0 and had not allowed an earned run. Hafner went 0-9 with an 8.31 ERA over 21 games, including 14 starts, and leaves with a league-high 68 walks.

EDGING INTO THE LEAD: West Virginia regained the division lead with a win last night, a loss by Hagerstown, and a postponement in Hickory. The Power hold a half game advantage heading into play tonight. The Power have concluded their season series with the Suns and have four games remaining against the Crawdads. Hagerstown holds the tie breaker against both teams with a better record in head-to-head competition.

FIVE DRIVES: Thursday's five home run game was the first by the Power offense since becoming a Pittsburgh Piratesaffiliate prior to the 2009 season and the most in a single game by a West Virginia club since June 12, 2007 (six home runs at Hickory in a 24-13 win). Gregory Polanco hit two of the five to become the first Power player to hit two in a single games since May 31, 2010 when Rogelio Noris launched two against Hickory.

CRUSH AND ROLLING: Dan Gamache has hits in each of his last six games and has hit safly in 18 of his last 20. Since July 20, the Power second baseman has 30 hits over 75 at bats (.400) with three home runs and 16 runs batted in.

TOP OF THE HITTING HEAP: Gregory Polanco had two hits last night to surpass Alen Hanson for the league lead. Polanco now has 136 to Hanson's 135. No Power player has led the South Atlantic League in hits since Lorenzo Cain's 2006 club record 162. Both Polanco and Hanson left last night's game with injuries and are day-to-day according to the Power training staff.

STILL STREAKING: Francisco Diaz has hit safely in his last ten games and is hitting .533 during this streak that began on July 13 with 16 hits in his last 30 at bats. Gregory Polanco's two home runs extend his hitting streak to nine straight. The Power center fielder is batting .400 over his last nine and has matched his second longest hitting streak this season.

POWER POINTS: West Virginia has won each of the last 10 games that Robbie Kilcrease has made an appearance in... Dan Gamache's 32 doubles this season are tied for seventh most all-time in Power history.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: Pittsburgh lost 6-3 to Arizona at PNC Park. The Pirates open a weekend series against the Padres tonight and are 2,5 games behind Cincinnati in the NL Central... Indianapolis beat Charlotte 3-0. Justin Wilson pitched his second no-hitter this season... Altoona knocked off Bowie 9-4... Bradenton lost 3-0 at Charlotte in a rain-shortened game... State College lost 5-3 at Auburn. The Spikes are 26-25 and are 4.5 games back in the NYPL Pinckney Division with 25 to go.

ON THE AIR: All 140 West Virginia Power games can be heard on ESPN 104.5 FM and 1490 AM in Charleston, WV, across the state on the Power Radio Network, and online at milb.com. Adam Marco will call the action for each of the 70 home games this season, while the home team will provide coverage while the Power are on the road.

Check out the Charleston Dirty Birds Statistics

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



South Atlantic League Stories from August 10, 2012


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