EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on May 8, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


TODAY: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and Altoona Curve will meet in the finale of a three-game series...The Flying Squirrels scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning and got another solid start from Eric Surkamp en route to a 5-0 win over the Curve on Saturday night in front of 5,713 fans at The Diamond.

TODAY'S STARTERS: Right-hander Justin Fitzgerald gets the start in series finale for the Flying Squirrels...Suffered the loss in his last outing 5/3 at New Britain...Loss was his first since 8/26/10 (9GS including CAL Playoffs)...Allowed four runs on nine hits in five-plus innings...Struck out two batters and walked three...Allowed season-highs in runs and hits...Allowed the leadoff batter to reach in four of his six innings on the mound...Leadoff man scored three of the four times he reached...Recorded five flyouts and four groundouts...Threw 88 pitches, 53 strikes...Threw 16 pitches or more in four of his six innings including 22 in the bottom of the fourth...First five batters in the bottom of the fourth reached base...Threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of the 24 batters that he faced...Spent the entire 2010 season with Advanced-A San Jose...First season as a starter after appearing exclusively in relief in his first two pro campaigns...Went 10-6 with a 3.45 ERA in 26 games, 25 starts...Struck out 116 batters and walked 46 in 146 innings...Ranked 4th in the California League in ERA (3.45), 3rd in opponent batting average (.258) and tied for 5th with 10 wins....Named a California League Mid-Season All-Star...Made three postseason starts with San Jose, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA (4R/18.2 IP)...Made 39 relief appearances with Low-A Augusta in 2009...Went 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA, striking out 63 and walking 27 in 56 innings...Made pro debut in 2008, going a combined 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in 17 appearances...Selected in the 11th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft...Attended the University of California-Davis.

Right-hander Jared Hughes gets the nod in the series finale for the Curve...Received a no-decision in his last start 5/2 against Akron...Allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits in four innings...Struck out one batter, walked two, and hit one...Has allowed five runs or more in two of his last three outings including giving up five runs in five innings 4/22 at Richmond...Opponents hitting .287 (29-for-101) against him...Is 4-2 with a 3.58 ERA in nine games, seven starts, against the Flying Squirrels in his career and has allowed 24 runs, 20 earned, on 54 hits in 50 1/3 innings, striking out 38 batters and walking 10...Spent the entire 2010 season with Altoona and went 12-8 with a 4.42 ERA in 30 games, including 23 starts...Finished tied for second in the Eastern League in wins (12), ranked sixth in hits allowed (166) and was seventh in strikeouts (120) and innings pitched (150 2/3)...Moved to the bullpen 7/25, making seven total relief appearances going 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA as a reliever...Was 9-8 with a 4.70 ERA in his 23 starts...Left-handed batters hit .311 (102-for-328) against him while right-handed batters hit .242 (64-for-264)...Appeared in 17 games including seven starts with Altoona in 2009, bouncing back from an early season injury...Went 1-6 with a 3.88 ERA with 36 strike outs and 16 walks in 46 1/3 innings of work...Was 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in 10 relief appearances...Was 1-4 with a 1.91 ERA in his seven starts...Counting 2011, has spent parts of the last four seasons with Altoona including making six starts in his first stint with the Curve in 2008...Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft...Attended Cal State Long Beach.

#WINNING: The Flying Squirrels have won three straight games for the first time this season...The club will be in search of its first series sweep of the season in today's finale with Altoona...Richmond has not swept a series since taking all three games from the Erie SeaWolves 6/25-6/27/10...The Flying Squirrels swept four three-game series last season.

KING OF THE K: Left-hander Eric Surkamp struck out 10 batters for the fourth time in six starts as he fanned 10 Curve batters over 6 1/3 innings last night... The 10 strikeouts again matched a Flying Squirrels franchise record, originally set by right-hander David Mixon 7/16/10 against Bowie...It was the 10th career double-digit strikeout game for Surkamp who struck out 10-plus three times in both 2009 with Low-A Augusta and 2010 with Advanced-A San Jose...The 23-year-old leads the Eastern League with 51 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings, and he currently leads all of MiLB in total strikeouts.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Flying Squirrels are batting .249 (134-for-539) in 16 games at The Diamond while averaging 4.31 runs per game at home (69R/16G)...Richmond is batting .197 (88-for-447) and are averaging 2.92 runs per game (38R/13G) in 13 contests...Seven of the club's 12 home runs have been hit at The Diamond...The Flying Squirrels .688 winning percentage is the second-best in the Eastern League trailing only the Trenton Thunder (11-4, .714).

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels notched their second shutout of the season last night, as Eric Surkamp, Edwin Quirarte, and Wilmin Rodriguez combined to allow a season-low two hits...Richmond's pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 2.83 ERA through 29 games...The club leads the league in staff ERA even though it has issued the most walks (98) and has allowed the more hits (248) than of any team in the circuit...The Flying Squirrels rank third in the league with 237 strikeouts, and the pitching staff has logged a league-high 270 innings of work, 14 2/3 more innings than the Trenton Thunder who ranks second in innings pitched.

BOOK ‘EM DAN-O: Right-hander Dan Otero has tossed 10 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings over his last six appearances, the longest scoreless streak of the season for a Flying Squirrels pitcher...The 26-year-old has struck out 13 batters and walked none while holding opponents to a .225 (9-for-40) average against over the course of the streak.

NO MO-NELL: Catcher Johnny Monell is 0-for-15 at the plate with six strikeouts over his last five games and is just 3-for-32 (.094) at the plate with 15 strikeouts since hitting home runs in consecutive games 4/25-4/26 (nine games)...The 25-year-old's batting average has tumbled from .255 to .193 over his last nine contests.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from May 8, 2011


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