SAL1 Charleston Dirty Birds

Power Game Notes

Published on August 24, 2012 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston Dirty Birds News Release


Hickory Crawdads (33-27, 69-60) at West Virginia Power (33-27, 56-74)

Game 131 | August 24, 2012 | Appalachian Power Park | Charleston, WV

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

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

LH Will Lamb (4-8, 4.58) vs. RH Nick Kingham (6-7, 4.62)

Lamb: Allowed 2 R on 3 H with 4 K and 3 BB over 4.0 IP in 8/19 ND vs. SAV (5-3 Crawdads)

Kingham: Allowed 1 R on 2 H over 6.0 IP with 3 K and 0 BB in 8/19 Win @ KAN (5-1 WVP)

POWER REPLAY: West Virginia lost 4-3 to Hickory on Thursday night. The Crawdads scored once in the third and added three in the fourth to build up a 4-0 advantage. The Power struggled to get runners on base against Hickory starter Jerad Eickhoff, but tagged reliever Jose Monegro for three runs in the sixth, including two on a home run by Eric Avila. The Crawdads' Arlett Mavare pitched the final three innings and stuck out seven of the ten batters he faced. Zack Von Rosenberg allowed all four runs, though only one was earned, and was charged with the loss.

2.5 BEHIND: Hagerstown beat Delmarva on Thursday, so West Virginia's loss dropped the Power back in a tie for second with Hickory in the SAL's Northern Division. The Power and Crawdads enter play tonight two and a half games behind the Suns. All three clubs have 10 games remaining this season.

GRAB THE STEAMPOT: The Power are 45-37 all-time against the Crawdads dating back to 2005. and have a 27-13 mark against the Crawdads at Appalachian Power Park. Hickory's victory on Thursday guaranteed that the Crawdads will win the season series for the third straight year against the affiliate of their old parent club (1999-2008).

ONE STOPPED... Jose Osuna saw his hitting streak stopped at 14 games by going 0-4 on Thursday. The Power first baseman hit .322 during the streak with 19 hits over 59 at bats. Osuna also had two home runs and seven runs batted in during the streak, which was the second longest by a Power player this season and the fifth longest (by number of games) in the league.

WHILE OTHERS GO: Eric Avila's current hitting streak has reached 12 straight after going 2-4 on Thursday. Avila is batting .413 over his last 12 with seven home runs and 18 batted in, and is threatening Jose Osuna club record of nine home runs in a single month (set in July). Alen Hanson has hit safely in eight consecutive games while Gregory Polanco has a nine game hitting streak intact when he next takes the field after being activated from the Disabled List.

SCORING DIFFERENTIAL: West Virginia has scored 647 runs this season and has allowed 699. During the first half of the season, the Power scored 316 over seventy games for an average of 4.5 runs per game and allowed 442 for an average of 6.3 runs allowed per game. In 60 second half games, the team has scored 331 runs (5.5 runs per game) and has allowed 257 (4.3 runs allowed per game). The 647 runs is the second most in a single season since West Virginia became an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009. That initial club scored 673 over 137 games.

FOUR GONE CONCLUSION: Eric Avila has been named as the South Atlantic League's Player of the Week for August 13-19. The Power infielder hit .423 over seven games with nine runs batted in and hit home runs in four consecutive games while the club played in Kannapolis last week. Avila is the first West Virginia player to be honored by the league this season. Avila is the second player in Power franchise history to hit one out in four consecutive games, matching Caleb Gindl's feat from August of the 2008 season.

POWER POINTS: Eric Avila's grand slam on Tuesday was the first since Jarek Cunningham's based loaded blast on June 10, 2010 at Asheville... Nick Kingham is on pace to finish third in Power history with 115 strikeouts. The right-hander has 102 entering play tonight...

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION: Pittsburgh was idle on Thursday and begins a three game series against Milwaukee tonight at PNC Park... Indianapolis beat Louisville 6-1 and clinched the IL West Division title... Altoona edged Trenton 2-1... Bradenton lost 7-3 at Fort Myers... State College fell 6-3 at Auburn. The Spikes are 30-33 and eight games behind Auburn with 13 left to play.

ON THE AIR: All 140 West Virginia Power games can be heard on ESPN 104.5 FM and 1490 AM in Charleston, WV 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 24, 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