EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on May 24, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (20-23) VS. ERIE SEAWOLVES (20-21)

LHP ERIC SURKAMP (2-2, 1.76) VS. RHP L.J. GAGNIER (3-2, 4.05)

May 24, 2011 -- 7:05 PM

The Diamond

Game #44/Home #25

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and Erie SeaWolves will meet in game two of a four-game series...The SeaWolves took advantage of four Flying Squirrels errors and five walks, including four in the top of the seventh inning, as Erie topped Richmond 6-3 in the series-opener on Monday night in front of 3,027 fans at The Diamond.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Left-hander Eric Surkamp gets the start in game two of the series for the Flying Squirrels...Making his ninth start of the season and his first career start against a Detroit Tigers affiliate...Enters the 2011 season rated as the #9 prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system according to Baseball America...Received a no-decision in his last outing 5/19 against Bowie...Allowed one run of five hits in 7 2/3 innings...Struck out five batters and walked one...Struck out five batters and walked one...All five strikeouts were swinging...Outing was his longest of the season and the longest by a Flying Squirrels pitcher...Retired the first nine batters he faced...Two of the five hits he allowed came in the top of the eighth inning...Recorded nine groundouts and seven flyouts/popouts...Retired the leadoff batter in six of his eight innings on the mound...Threw 108 pitches, 72 strikes...Threw 12 pitches or less in five of his eight innings on the mound...Threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 27 batters he faced...Making his fourth straight start at home...Is 1-0 with a 0.88 ERA in five starts at The Diamond...Has struck out 40 batters and walked nine in 30 2/3 innings at home while limiting opponents to a .213 (23-for-108)...Is second in the Eastern League and is tied for ninth in all of MiLB with 61 strikeouts and is second in the league with a 1.76 ERA...Named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week 5/2/11-5/8/11...Made 17 starts with Advanced-A San Jose in 2010 going 4-2 with a 3.11 ERA...Struck out 108 batters and walked 22 in 101 1/3 innings...Had season cut short after injuring his hip attempting to field a ground ball 7/18/10 against Lancaster...Named a California League Mid-Season and Post Season All-Star...Spent all of 2009 with Low-A Augusta and went 11-5 with a 3.30 ERA in 23 starts...Struck out 169 batters and walked 39 in 131 innings, third-most strikeouts in all of MiLB...Selected in the 6th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft...Attended North Carolina State University

Right-hander L.J. Gagnier gets the nod in game two of the series for the SeaWolves...Making his ninth start of the season...Received a no-decision in his last outing 5/19 against Trenton...Allowed five runs, four earned on seven hits in seven innings...Matched a season-high with eight strikeouts and walked one...Has gone seven innings in three of his last five starts including tossing a six-hit, complete game shutout in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Reading 4/26...Is 1-1 with a 5.56 ERA in four starts this month and opponents are batting .270 (24-for-89) against him...Went 21- with a 2.63 ERA in four starts in April and limited opponents to a .165 (14-for-85) batting average against...Began the 2010 season with Erie and went 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA in six starts...Promoted to Triple-A Toledo 5/13/10...Appeared in 21 games with the Mud Hens including 20 starts and went 7-7 with a 3.51 ERA...Struck out 94 batters and walked 44 in 120 2/3 innings...Opponents hit .239 (111-for-464) against him...Spent the majority of the 2009 season with Advanced-A Lakeland going 9-10 with a 3.83 ERA in 23 outings including 22 starts...Struck out 123 batters and walked 40 in 134 innings of work...Tied for third in the Florida State League in strikeouts (123) and tied for the league lead in home runs allowed (15)...Promoted to Erie 8/29/09 and made two starts with the SeaWolves going 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA (3R/13.1 IP)...Pitched at four different levels in 2008 (Low-A - Triple-A)...Went a combined 6-13 with a 5.64 ERA in 27 starts...Struck out 126 batters and walked 67 in 137 1/3 innings...Made the majority of the season with Low-A West Michigan, making 14 starts with the Whitecaps while going 1-8 with a 4.42 ERA...Made four starts with Erie in 2008 and went 2-2 with a 12.91 ERA...Spent the entire 2007 season with West Michigan and went 5-11 with a 4.57 ERA in 28 games, 22 starts...Struck out 119 batters and walked 60 in 143 2/3 innings...Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft...Attended Cal State Fullerton University...Member of the 2004 College World Series Champions...Older brother of Connecticut Tigers right-hander Drew Gagnier.

TREADING WATER: The Flying Squirrels will try to avoid matching their low-water mark on the season at four games under .500...The club was last four games under .500 at 11-15 after dropping the opener of a doubleheader 5/5 at New Britain...Prior to last night, Richmond had fallen to three games under .500 five times since 5/5 and won the next game on all five of those occasions.

ERROR ALERT: The Flying Squirrels made a season-high four errors in last night's loss to the SeaWolves, as Richmond fell to 0-3 when committing three-plus errors in a game...The previous season-high was three errors, which happened twice, most recently 4/22 against Altoona...The club is still tied for second in the Eastern League in fielding percentage (.980) following last night's game.

ROGER THAT!: Outfielder Roger Kieschnick went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk last night and has hits in each of his last six games, matching his longest hitting streak of the season...Since seeing his average dip to a season-low .173 on 5/7, Kieschnick is hitting .339 (19-for-56) and has hits in 11 of his last 13 contests including multi-hit performances in eight of those games.

THE GEORGIA PEACH: Second baseman Charlie Culberson has hits in each of his last five games, his third hit streak of the season of five games or more...The 22-year-old is batting .375 (9-for-24) with two doubles and four runs scored over his last five contests...Culberson leads the club in batting average (.296) and is tied for fifth in the Eastern League in at-bats (169) while ranking tied for sixth in hits (50).

RAY OF SUNSHINE: Right-hander Ronnie Ray has worked 16 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings spanning his last eight appearances, including working a season-long four innings on 5/19 against Bowie...He was struck out 21 batters and has walked three over that stretch...Opponents are hitting .113 (6-for-53) against him over his last eight outings...Ray has lowered his ERA from 1.93 to 0.95 and opponent batting average against from .304 to .202...Since the All-Star break last season (7/15/10), Ray is 4-1 and has allowed 12 runs, seven earned, (1.15 ERA) in 55 innings spanning his last 36 outings...He has struck out 62 batters over that stretch and has walked 12 while holding opponents to a .186 batting average against (36-for-194).

MAY IS FOR MATOS: Right-hander Osiris Matos retired the only batter he faced Friday night to record his third hold of the season...In seven appearances this month, the 26-year-old has tossed 13 scoreless innings, limiting opponents to a .140 (6-for-43) batting average against...He has struck out seven batters while walking two over that span and has lowered his ERA from 5.02 to 2.63...Matos has thrown first-pitch strikes to each of the last 10 batters that he has faced.

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 2.88 ERA through 43 games, one of only two staffs with a sub-three ERA (Trenton 2.96)...The club ranks second in the league with 361 strikeouts, and the pitching staff has logged a league-high 402 2/3 innings of work.

HOME AND AWAY: The Flying Squirrels are in the middle of a stretch where they will play 10 of 13 games at home...Richmond is 14-10 at home and is batting .254 (214-for-844) in 24 games at The Diamond while averaging 4.13 runs per game at home (99R/24G)...Beginning May 27th, the club will start a stretch where it will play 13 of 16 games on the road...The Flying Squirrels are 6-13 on the road, and they are batting .198 (127-for-642) and averaging 3.05 runs per game (58R/19G) in 19 road contests.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from May 24, 2011


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