EL1 Richmond Flying Squirrels

Richmond Flying Squirrels Game Notes

August 21, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release


RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS (67-58) VS. AKRON AEROS (65-61)

LHP ERIC SURKAMP (9-4, 2.14) VS. RHP STEVEN WRIGHT (1-2, 6.33)

August 21, 2011 -- 5:05 PM

The Diamond

Game #126/Home #67

Radio Broadcast -- Sports Radio 910 WRNL

Internet Webcast -- www.sportsradio910.com

TONIGHT: The Richmond Flying Squirrels and Akron Aeros will meet in the finale of a three-game series...The Flying Squirrels outlasted the Aeros in a back-and-forth affair, holding on for an 8-6 win on Saturday night in front a capacity crowd of 9,560 fans at The Diamond.

TONIGHT'S STARTERS: Left-hander Eric Surkamp will get the start in the series finale for the Flying Squirrels...Making his 22nd start and 23rd appearance overall this season and his second start against the Aeros...Enters the 2011 season rated as the #9 prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system according to Baseball America...Earned the win in his last outing 8/16 against Bowie...Allowed three runs on six hits in six innings...Struck out five batters and walked one...Gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in the first inning...Allowed a leadoff home run to Buck Britton in the top of the fifth inning...Allowed the leadoff batter to reach in two of his six innings on the mound (scored twice)...Recorded seven groundouts and six flyouts/popouts...Threw 96 pitches, 67 strikes...Threw 15 pitches or less in four of his six innings on the mound...Threw 21 pitches in the top of the first inning and 26 pitches in the top of the fifth...Threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 25 batters he faced...Outing was his team-leading 13th quality start in 21 total...Has allowed three runs or less in 20 of his 22 outings this season....Leads the Eastern League with 161 strikeouts, ERA (2.14), and WHIP (1.11), is third opponent batting average (.220), and is seventh in innings pitched (134.1 IP)...His 161 total strikeouts this season are a single-season franchise record surpassing David Mixon's 112 strikeouts from last season...Named an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star...Placed on the DL (left knee) 6/14 retroactive to 6/10...Activated from the Disabled List 6/24...Named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week 5/2/11-5/8/11 and again 7/4/11-7/11/11...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 Postseason 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 Seven Wright gets the nod in the series finale for the Aeros...Making his 17th start of the season and his fourth with Akron...In his first full-season featuring a knuckleball...Received a no-decision in his last outing 8/16 against Harrisburg...Allowed three runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings...Struck out three batters and walked three...Has allowed 14 runs in 16 1/3 innings (7.71 ERA) in three starts and Eastern League opponents are hitting .313 (20-for-64) against him in his three starts...Began the season in Extended Spring Training before joining Low-A Lake County 4/21...Went 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA in nine starts with the Captains, striking out 33 batters and walking 24 in 46 innings...Made one relief appearance with Triple-A Columbus 5/22 against Durham...Sent back to Lake County 5/23...Promoted to Akron 6/10 and he earned the win working five innings in relief 6/11 against Harrisburg...Sent down to Advanced-A Kinston 6/16...Went 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA in seven games, four starts, with the K-Tribe, striking out 27 batters and walking 16 in 38 1/3 innings...Promoted to Akron 8/6...Spent the majority of the 2010 season with Akron going 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA in 39 games, two starts...Struck out 48 batters and walked 21 in 64 2/3...Appeared in nine games in relief with Triple-A Columbus and went 0-1 with a 7.59 ERA, allowing nine runs on 13 hits in 10 2/3 innings...Went 10-0 with a 2.32 ERA in 36 games, five starts, with Akron in 2009...Struck out 64 batters and walked 20 in 81 1/3 innings while limiting opponents to a .235 batting average against...Went 0-0 with a 4.76 ERA in two games, one start, with Triple-A Columbus...Began the 2008 season with Advanced-A Kinston and went 2-4 with a 2.99 ERA in 14 starts...Struck out 61 batters and walked 17 in 72 1/3 innings and limited opponents to a .225 batting average...Named a Carolina League Mid-Season All-Star...Promoted to Akron 6/19/08...Went 4-3 with a 4.30 ERA in 14 starts with the Aeros, striking out 58 batters and walking 17 in 75 1/3 innings...Made pro debut in 2007 and went a combined 7-9 with a 5.67 ERA in 27 starts with Low-A Lake County and Advanced-A Kinston...Entered the 2007 season rated as the #29 prospect in the Cleveland Indians farm system according to Baseball America...Selected by the Cleveland Indians in the second round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft...Attended the University of Hawaii.

BURNING RUBBER: The Flying Squirrels enter tonight's rubber match with the Akron Aeros 9-6 in series-deciding games...The club is 17-20 in series finales.

ONE-HORNED PEGASUS: The Flying Squirrels won for just the third time in 29 games when allowing six runs or more...It was the club's first win when allowing six runs or more since 7/5 against Trenton when it won 9-6 on a Francisco Peguero walk-off grand slam...In 48 games since 7/1, the Flying Squirrels have allowed six or more runs 16 times and the team is 2-14 in those contests...In the first 77 games this season for Richmond, the team allowed six or more runs 13 times and went 1-12 in those games.

CANADIAN BACON: Super utility man Skyler Stromsmoe went 2-for-3 last night with a walk, RBI, and three runs scored...His three runs scored last night matched a career high...He also scored three runs 7/17/09 against Modesto while with Advanced-A San Jose...The Bow Island, Alberta, Canada, native is currently 9-for-16 with a double, a triple, a home run, three RBIs, six runs scored and two walks through the first five games of the homestand...The home run for 27-year-old on Thursday was his first since 6/14/10 at Reading (242 at-bats) and just his seventh in his first 244 games over his five-year professional career... Since 7/1, he is hitting .321 (25-for-78) with four doubles, a triple, a home run, 11 RBIs and 13 runs scored in 36 games, raising his average from .203 to .268.

ROGER THAT!: Outfielder Roger Kieschnick blasted his team-leading 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth inning...His 16 home runs are also a single-season franchise record...It was only the third opposite field home run for the left-hander hitter and was his seventh at The Diamond...The 24-year-old also drove in two more runs, increasing his team-leading total to 64 for the season...It was his first home run and RBIs since 8/10 at Harrisburg (five games)...He is five RBIs shy of matching Thomas Neal's single-season franchise mark of 69.

OPERATION SELLOUT: The Flying Squirrels announced a capacity crowd of 9,560 for last night's contest against the Aeros making it the sixth sellout of the season and the 15th sellout in Flying Squirrels' history...Richmond played in front of 13 crowds of over 9,000 at The Diamond including nine sellout crowds of 9,560 in 2010.

HOME AND AWAY: The Flying Squirrels are 42-24 overall at home - the best home record in the Eastern League - and they are the only team in the league with more than 37 wins at home...The club's 42 wins at home are fifth-most of all of the full-season teams in MiLB...They are batting .263 in 66 games at The Diamond while averaging 4.56 runs per game at home (301R/66G)....Overall, the club is 25-34 on the road, and is batting .224 and averaging 3.51 runs per game (207R/59G) in 59 road contests...Following the team's current six-game homestand, it will play 12 of its final 16 games on the road.

PITCHING IN: The Flying Squirrels pitching staff leads the Eastern League with a 3.43 ERA through 125 games and has allowed a league-low 487 runs...Richmond's pitching staff has allowed two runs or less in 46 of its 125 games (37%)...Starting pitching has allowed three runs or less in 88 of the team's 125 games (70%) and the club is 59-29 in those contests.

Check out the Richmond Flying Squirrels Statistics



Eastern League Stories from August 21, 2011


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