EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

Published on June 10, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (29-30) VS. NEW HAMPSHIRE FISHER CATS (36-23)

RHP JUSTIN FITZGERALD (4-3, 2.93) VS. RHP HENDERSON ALVAREZ (2-1, 3.22)

June 10, 2011 -- 7:05 PM

Northeast Delta Dental Stadium

Game #60/Road #30

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and New Hampshire Fisher Cats will meet in the opener of a three-game series...The Flying Squirrels scored seven runs on nine hits including three doubles and a Charlie Culberson home run as Richmond earned a series-clinching win against the Portland Sea Dogs on Thursday night in front of 4,180 fans at Hadlock Field.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Right-hander Justin Fitzgerald gets the start in the series opener for the Flying Squirrels...Making his 12th start of the season...Received a no-decision in his last outing 6/4 against Reading...Allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings...Struck out two batters and walked two...Outing matched his longest of the season...Allowed at least one base runner in six of his seven innings on the mound...Allowed a one-out, solo home run to Derrick Mitchell, his first homer surrendered this season...Retired the leadoff batter in five of his seven innings on the mound...Recorded eight groundouts and seven popouts/flyouts...Threw 103 pitches, 63 strikes...Threw 12 pitches or less in four of his seven innings on the mound...Threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 27 batters he faced....Is 2-0 with a 1.38 over his last four starts...Has allowed six runs, four earned, on 20 hits over his last 26 innings while striking out 15 batters and walking 10...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 Henderson Alvarez gets the nod in the series opener for the Fisher Cats...Making his seventh start of the season and fifth with New Hampshire...Enters the season rated as the #17 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system according to Baseball America...Suffered his first Double-A loss in his last outing 6/5 at Trenton...Allowed five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings...Struck out three batters and walked two...Had allowed three runs total on 14 hits over his first three starts with the Fisher Cats (18 innings)...Promoted from Advanced-A Dunedin 5/19...Made two starts with the Dunedin Blue Jays and went 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA (9R/6ER in 8.1 IP)...Began the season in Extended Spring Training due to injury...Entered the season with a career 1.56 groundout to flyout ratio (411GO/264AO)...Spent the entire 2010 season with Dunedin and went 8-7 with a 4.33 ERA in 23 games, 21 starts...Struck out 78 batters and walked 27 in 112 1/3 innings...Named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star and represented the World Team in the 2010 MLB XM All-Star Futures Game in Anaheim, CA...Went 5-2 with a 2.78 ERA in 11 starts prior to the FSL All-Star Break and went 3-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 12 games, 10 starts, after...Entered the 2010 season rated as the #5 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system according to Baseball America...Spent the entire 2009 season with Low-A Lansing and went 9-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 23 starts...Struck out 92 batters and walked 19 in 124 1/3 innings, allowing just one home run...Named a Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star...Led the league in fewest walks (1.4) and homers (0.1) allowed per nine innings...Entered the 2009 season rated as the #29 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system according to Baseball America...Made his domestic debut with the GCL Blue Jays in 2008 and went 1-4 with a 5.63 ERA in 12 games, 11 starts...Signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a non-drafted free agent August 17, 2006.

PULLING EVEN: With a win tonight in the series opener at New Hampshire, the Flying Squirrels could get back to the .500 mark for the first time since 5/28 when the club was 24-24...Richmond has not had a winning record since it was 5-4 on 4/15.

SERIES OF WINS: The Flying Squirrels won their second consecutive series, taking two of three from the Portland Sea Dogs...It was the third time this season Richmond has claimed back-to-back series wins (4/21-4/28 against Altoona & Trenton, 5/20-5/26 at Reading & against Erie)...Richmond netted its second road series victory of the season for the club (5/20-5/22 at Reading)...The Flying Squirrels improved to 5-3 in rubber matches and 9-9 overall in series finales with last night's win.

THE JOLLY ROGER: Outfielder Roger Kieschnick is batting .315 (34-for-108) over his last 28 games with six doubles, a triple, three home runs, 15 RBIs and 15 runs scored...The 24-year-old has 13 multi-hit games over that span which also includes a season-long eight-game hit streak...He has raised his batting average from .173 to .245 since 5/7.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND: Second baseman Charlie Culberson has homered in each of his last two games after hitting just one home run through his first 54 contests...The 22-year-old is the third Richmond batter to homer in consecutive games this season joining Johnny Monell (4/25-4/26 against Trenton) and Nick Noonan (5/5 in games one and two of a doubleheader at New Britain)...It is the third time in Culberson's career that he has homered in consecutive games...The Georgia native did it twice last season with Advanced-A San Jose including homering in three straight contests 7/11/10-7/13/10...No Flying Squirrel has ever homered in three consecutive games.

FRESH SQUEEZED: Catcher Aaron Lowenstein dropped a squeeze bunt in the top of the sixth inning last night to score Sharlon Schoop with Richmond's sixth run of the game...It was the second time this season a Flying Squirrel batter has successfully executed a squeeze bunt and the fourth time overall in franchise history...Justin Christian dropped down a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning 4/9 against New Britain...Last season, Juan Ciriaco laid down a squeeze bunt 7/2/10 against Erie in the bottom of the eighth inning and Ryan Lormard executed a squeeze bunt 8/22/10 at Bowie in the top of the seventh inning.

NO RUNNING: Catcher Aaron Lowenstein threw out another baserunner Thursday night, and the 25-year-old has also thrown out 16 baserunners in 21 attempts...His .762 throwing percentage leads all MiLB catchers with at least 21 attempts.

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 2.82 ERA through 59 games, the only staff with a sub-three ERA...Richmond's 2.82 staff ERA is the third-lowest in all of MiLB, trailing the Advanced-A Clearwater Threshers (2.69) and Low-A Burlington Bees (2.71)...The pitching staff has logged a league-high 542 1/3 innings of work.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN: The Flying Squirrels are in a stretch where they will play 13 of 16 games on the road...The team is 6-7 through the first 13 games of that stretch including a 4-6 mark on the road...Overall, the club is 10-19 on the road, and is batting .199 (192-for-965) and averaging 3.10 runs per game (90R/29G) in 29 road contests...Richmond recently completed a stretch of playing 10 out of 13 games at home, going 8-5 over those 13 contests...The Flying Squirrels are 18-11 at home and are batting .253 (262-for-1,035) in 30 games at The Diamond while averaging 4.17 runs per game at home (125R/30G).

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from June 10, 2011


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