EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on April 25, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (7-9) VS. TRENTON THUNDER (7-9)

LHP TOM VESSELLA (1-1, 7.11) VS. LHP MANNY BANUELOS (0-0, 0.00)

April 25, 2011 -- 6:35 PM

The Diamond

Game #17/Home #11

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and Trenton Thunder will meet in the opener of a four-game series...The Flying Squirrels scored two runs in the bottom of the 11th inning, including scoring the game-winning run on a wild pitch, to knock off the Altoona Curve 3-2 in front of 6,744 fans on Saturday night at The Diamond.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Left-hander Tom Vessella gets the start in the series opener for the Flying Squirrels...Suffered the loss in his last outing 4/18 at Trenton...Entered in relief for the first time this season...Allowed three runs on four hits in 1/3 of an inning...Walked one batter and struck out none...Only retired one of the six batters he faced...Threw 27 pitches, 15 strikes...Earned the win in his first start of the season 4/12 against Bowie...Allowed two runs on two hits in six innings...Struck out three batters and walked one...Retired the first nine batters he faced...Tossed four hitless innings...Gave up a solo home run to Ronnie Welty with two outs in the top of the fifth inning...Retired the leadoff batter in four of his six innings on the mound...Leadoff man scored in one of the two innings he reached...Recorded eight ground outs and six fly outs...Threw 73 pitches, 45 strikes...Threw 12 pitches or fewer in four of his six innings...Threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 21 batters he faced...Split the 2010 season between Evansville (Ind.) and Laredo (Ind.)...Signed with Evansville 3/23/10...Appeared in six games going 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA...Released 6/7/10...Signed with Laredo 6/30/10...Appeared in 31 games going 0-1 with a 7.99 ERA...Made 2 starts with Lake Erie (Ind.) in 2009...Went 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA, allowing seven runs, six earned, on nine hits in sevent innings...Released by the Houston Astros in March 2009...Promoted from Extended Spring Training to Low-A Lexington 5/25/08...Appeared in six games, five starts, from 5/25/08-6/20/08...Went 1-3 with a 6.83 ERA while allowing opponents to hit .319 against him...Placed on the DL 7/17/08...Made 15 starts with Short-Season A Tri-City in 2007...Went 2-7 with a 4.63 ERA, allowing 46 runs, 37 earned, on 80 hits in 72 innings...Made pro debut in 2006 with Rookie Greeneville...Went 1-5 with a 4.60 ERA in 13 games, nine starts...Allowed 25 runs, 22 earned, on 48 hits in 43 innings...Originally selected by the Houston Astros in the 11th round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft...Attended Whittier College.

Left-hander Manny Banuelos gets the nod in game one of the series for the Thunder...Enters the 2011 season rated as the #4 prospect in the New York Yankees farm system according to Baseball America...Enters the 2011 season rated as the #35 overall prospect by MLB.com...Received a no-decision in his last start 4/19 against Richmond...Allowed one unearned run on two hits in four innings...Struck out four batters and walked two...Both hits allowed were infield singles...Allowed the leadoff batter to reach in three of his four innings on the mound...Threw 62 pitches, 40 strikes...Threw first-pitch strikes to 10 of the 16 batters he faced...Placed on the DL 4/14/11 retroactive to 4/12/11 (blister)...Entered the 2010 season rated as the #6 prospect in the Yankees farm system according to Baseball America...Limited to just 15 starts in 2010 due to having an appendectomy during Spring Training...Made 10 starts with Advanced-A Tampa after making two starts with the GCL Yankees...Went 0-3 with a 2.23 ERA with Tampa, striking out 62 and walking 14 in 44 1/3 innings...Promoted to Trenton 8/23/10 and went 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA in three starts...Struck out 17 batters and walked eight in 15 1/3 innings...Made two starts during the Eastern League playoffs going 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA (3ER/11.2 IP)...Suffered the loss in the clinching Game 4 win for Altoona...Entered the 2009 season rated as the #14 prospect in the Yankees farm system according to Baseball America...Spent almost the entire 2009 season with Low-A Charleston going 9-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 25 games, including 19 games started...Struck out 104 batters and walked 28 in 108 inning while limiting opposing hitters to a .219 batting average against...Pitched one perfect inning with Tampa, striking out two...Selected to participate in the XM Radio All-Star Futures Game in St. Louis...Went 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 12 games, three starts, with the GCL Yankees in 2008...Signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent 3/30/08.

EXTRA SPECIAL: The Flying Squirrels got their first extra-innings win of the season in Saturday's 11-inning contest...Richmond and Altoona played back-to-back extra inning games, including a 15-inning affair that lasted four hours and 41 minutes on Friday night...Three of the club's last five games have gone into extra innings including a 10-inning contest at Trenton last Tuesday which the Thunder won 2-1.

BURNING RUBBER: The Flying Squirrels improved to 1-1 in rubber matches with their 3-2 win over the Altoona Curve on Saturday night...The club also won for the first time in the final game of a series, improving to 1-4 in finales this season.

JUSTIN TIME: Outfielder Justin Christian has hits in three of his last four games and is 8-for-15 (.533) with a RBI and three runs scored over that span...The 31-year-old has two three-hit games in his last four contests and is tied with Charlie Culberson for most three-hit games...He is also tied with Culberson for the team lead with four multi-hit games...His .291 batting average is tops among players who were on the Opening Day roster and he ranks second on the team in hits (16) and RBI (6).

COMING THROUGH IN A PINCH: Johnny Monell delivered a pinch-hit, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday night to tie the game 1-1...Richmond pinch hitters are 3-13 (.231) through the first 16 games...Joel Weeks is 2-for-3 off of the bench and has reached base safely in three of his four pinch hit plate appearances (two singles and a walk)...Weeks drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 11th inning on Saturday night to start the Flying Squirrels two-run rally.

CATCHING ON: Catchers Johnny Monell and Aaron Lowenstein have combined to throw out 10-of-23 would-be base stealers and their .435 percentage leads the Eastern League...Monell and Lowenstein are tied with New Hampshire's Travis d'Arnaud and Bowie's Caleb Joseph for second in the Eastern League for most base runners thrown out (5)...In addition, Flying Squirrels pitchers have picked off six base runners.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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



Eastern League Stories from April 25, 2011


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