CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

April 29, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (8-12) @ WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (12-7)

Friday, April 29, 2011, 7 p.m. | Daniel S. Frawley Stadium | Wilmington, DE

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Game No. 21 ⌂ Road Game No. 10 | 2011 Home Record 4-7 | 2011 Road Record 4-5

LHP Joe Serafin (0-0, 3.46) @ RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-0, 3.46)

Only Good in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades: Being close wasn't enough for the Dash yesterday, as Winston-Salem dropped its second straight game to the Frederick Keys 5-4 on Thursday. The Dash scored two in the first, only to see Frederick tie things up in the fourth on a Buck Britton two-run home run. The Keys got a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, but had to sweat out a frantic Winston rally in the ninth. Jake Oester and Nick Ciolli had RBI singles to get the Dash to within a run. Winston-Salem put the tying run at second and the winning run at first, but Kyle Colligan's broken bat line drive miraculously landed in Sean Gleason's glove as the pitcher was trying to shield himself from the bat to end the ballgame. Frederick won the series and the Dash finished their home stand with a 2-6 record.

Close-Call Contests Continue: Thursday featured yet another close game for the Dash in a season that has almost exclusively featured nip and tuck contests. Seventeen of the team's 20 games have been decided by three runs or fewer and the team has had a lead in 16 games this season. Winston has played 11 one-run games, tied for the most in the Carolina League and tied for the second-most in all of minor league baseball (only the AA Mississippi Braves have played more with 12). Winston-Salem is 4-7 in such contests. At this rate, the Dash would play 77 one-run games over the course of the season. Thursday's game was also the fourth in Winston's last eight games that the team has rallied to score late runs only to end up losing by one or two runs.

Gacamole: Ian Gac successfully ran his streak to ten games with his 2 for 4 effort last night. Gac is batting .389 (14 for 36) during the streak with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, and eight runs scored. He is tied for the CL lead with seven home runs this season. Five of Gac's home runs this season have either tied the game or given Winston-Salem the lead. The Seattle-native is fourth in the CL in RBI (19), third in slugging percentage (.662), and second in total bases (49).

Roller Oester: Since getting called up from low-A Kannapolis last Thursday, Jake Oester is 7 for 14 with an RBI and one run scored. Going back to his final two games with the Intimidators, Oester has a six-game hit streak and is batting .450 (9 for 20). Prior to this hit streak, he had been 0 for 13 on the season.

The Wilky Way: After a slow start to the season, Andy Wilkins has settled into his groove offensively. The former Arkansas Razorback hit just .154 with no extra-base hits or RBI in his first seven games. In his last 13 games, Wilkins is batting .294 (15 for 51) with four homers, ten RBI, and four doubles.

E-Yikes: The Dash committed three errors last night, continuing a difficult stretch defensively for the team. Winston did not have any three-plus error games over the first ten games of the season, but has had four such contests in the last ten games.

First thing's First: Yesterday ended a streak of six straight games that Winston's opponents striking for at least one run in the first inning. After allowing just two first inning runs over the first 13 games of the season, the Wilmington and Frederick combined to score ten runs over the next six games played by the Dash.

Attention J-Mart Shoppers: Jose Martinez went 1 for 4 yesterday and has had a base hit in all but two games this season. He is currently riding his third six-game hit streak of the year. Martinez's name is littered all over the Carolina League leaderboards. He is second in the CL in batting average (.395), first in hits (32), fourth in on-base percentage (.443), third in doubles (8), second in runs scored (20), third in total bases (45), and third in most plate appearances per strikeout (11.13).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-0, 3.46) makes his fourth start of the season and his second against the Dash. He got a no-decision last Saturday at Winston-Salem, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings. His only mistake of the night came on Ian Gac's two-run, game-tying home run. He is in his first season with the Royals organization after serving as the centerpiece of the trade that sent major leaguers Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt to Milwaukee in exchange for Odorizzi, IF Alcides Escobar, RHP Jared Jeffress, and OF Lorenzo Cain. Baseball America ranked Odorizzi as the top prospect in the Brewers farm system prior to the trade, while Escobar held that spot in the previous season. He spent all of 2010 with low-A Wisconsin, going 7-3 with a 3.43 and 135 strikeouts in 120.2 innings. Odorizzi led the Midwest League with 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings last season and pitched the first eight innings of a combined no-hitter in his penultimate start. He entered this year ranked by MLB.com as the 37th-best prospect among all minor leaguers. Odorizzi features a fastball that ranges from 89-95 mph, a curveball, slider, and changeup. Milwaukee originally selected him as a supplemental first-rounder (32nd overall) in 2008 out of Highland (IL) HS. He elected to sign with the Brewers for just over $1 million rather than attend the University of Louisville, where he was being recruited to play football in addition to baseball. In his senior season, he was an All-League wide receiver on the gridiron and went 14-0 with a 0.08 ERA (1 ER, 89.2 IP) and 146 K/6 BB on the mound.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics



Carolina League Stories from April 29, 2011


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