CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on May 20, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


Marathon Men: The Dash and Pelicans played a doubleheader on Wednesday that amounted to more of a tripleheader by the time game two was finished. After Myrtle Beach won 5-0 in the regularly scheduled game one, the teams embarked upon what was supposed to be a second nine-inning game less than five hours later. Game two ended up going 20 innings and the Dash eventually pulled out a 4-3 win to earn the split. In total, the teams played 29 innings on Wednesday/early Thursday morning totaling seven hours and 46 minutes of game action. The teams used a combined 18 pitchers and 22 position players over the two games.

Slumber Party: Winston-Salem's bats didn't wake up for the early noon start in game one of yesterday's doubleheader. The Dash was shut out for just the second time this season in a 5-0 loss. Randall Delgado threw seven shutout innings for his second win of the season. Winston also lost 5-0 in the second game of the year at Kinston. The bats only managed three hits, a new season low.

Staying up late: Game two was a five-hour, thirty-minute war of attrition, a 20-inning pitcher's duel that didn't end until 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The game was tied at one entering the 12th inning, when the Pelicans scored a run to take a 2-1 lead. Ozzie Lewis made sure the contest continued with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 12th. Again, Myrtle took a one-run lead in the 14th, only to see the Dash tie it again, this time with a two-out RBI single by Justin Greene. Finally, Chase Blackwood ended things in the 20th inning with an RBI single to score Lewis and give the Dash the long-sought victory.

Strikeout City: The two teams combined for 52 strikeouts on the night. Winston batters K'd 29 times, while the Pelicans struck out 23 times.

Chase What Matters: Chase Blackwood played an extraordinarily memorable game, for both positive and negative reasons. Blackwood had been on the active Dash roster for roughly a month in two separate stints, but never got into a game before last night. He went 0 for his first eight with six strikeouts, tying for the second-most individual strikeouts in a game in Carolina League history. Blackwood also committed a throwing error in the 18th inning. But with the game on the line in the bottom of the 20th , Blackwood came through with a game-winning RBI single to right field. Overall, he went 1 for 9 at the plate and also threw out two potential basestealers.

Mr. Everything: Kyle Shelton also played a legendary game last night for Winston-Salem. It started in the second inning, when he stroked his first home run of the season to left field to give the Dash a temporary 1-0 lead. He made several outstanding plays at second base before shifting to play left field later in the game. With the Dash pitching staff spent, Shelton came in to pitch the 20th inning, his first professional pitching appearance. After giving up a leadoff single, Shelton retired the next three batters to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, he singled to move Ozzie Lewis into scoring position. Two batters later, Lewis came home to score the game-winning run. Shelton was credited as the winning pitcher, capping a night he won't forget anytime soon.

Sayonara to the Streak: Jon Gilmore's 17-game hitting streak ended in game one of the doubleheader with an 0-4 day at the plate. Before it ended, it was the longest active streak in professional affiliated baseball. Gilmore had one final chance to extend the streak with two outs in the ninth inning, but he grounded to second base to end the streak and the game. The streak was the longest for Jon on the season and he hit .338 over its duration. He was able to pick up a hit in the ninth inning of game two to start a new streak. He has collected at least one hit in all but four games this season.

Pelicans Pitching Perplexes Purple Players: Despite entering the series with statistically the worst pitching staff in the Carolina League, Myrtle Beach has kept Winston-Salem's bats in check throughout the series. In 37.2 innings, the Dash's offense has posted a .181 batting average and just six runs, the worst offensive stretch over three games for the team all season.

Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging: The Dash saw its season batting average take a tumble in yesterday's doubleheader. Winston's average almost ten points to .3056 and it is now the second-best batting average of any professional affiliate team. The Albuquerque Isotopes have taken over the top spot by a slim margin with a .3062 clip. The Dash's average is still the best in the Carolina League by 36 points (Lynchburg is the closest with a .270 average). Winston has five players in the top ten in the league in batting average: Brandon Short (1st, .388), Jon Gilmore (3rd, .355), Ozzie Lewis (5th, .341), Justin Greene (9th, .328) and Drew Garcia (10th, .323). The team's 249 runs are the most of any team, majors or minors. AAA Durham is second with 232 runs.

Iron Man 2: Only three players in the Carolina League have played every game and two of them are on the Dash. Justin Greene and Brandon Short have been Winston-Salem's iron men, playing in all 40 games this season. Wilmington's Eric Hosmer has also played every game in 2010.

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Brett Oberholtzer (1-3, 7.52) makes his fourth start of the season for Myrtle Beach and his first against the Dash. He started the season in low-A Rome, going 0-2 with a 1.96 ERA in four starts with the Braves before earning a promotion in late April. Oberholtzer entered the season ranked by Baseball America as the 13th best prospect in the Atlanta organization and the third best left-handed starting pitcher. He spent all of 2009 with Danville and went 6-2 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts. He went 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA in ten relief appearances during his first professional season in 2008 for the GCL Braves. His fastball ranges from 86-92 mph with good tailing action. Oberholzter also throws a curveball and a changeup. He was drafted out of Seminole (FL) CC in the 8th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. The 20-year-old is a native of Saint Georges, DE and he went to high school in New Castle, DE, not far from where the Wilmington Blue Rocks play.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 20, 2010


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