CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on June 3, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (24-29) vs. KINSTON INDIANS (27-25)

Friday, June 3, 2011, 7:00 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Game No. 54 | Home Game No. 30 | 2011 Home Record 14-15 | 2011 Road Record 10-14

RHP Justin Collop (0-3, 8.44) vs. LHP T.J. House (2-5, 5.68)

Not sweet, no sweep: The Potomac Nationals left town last night with their 11-game losing streak in the rear view mirror. The P-Nats snapped their winless drought with an 8-5 victory over the Dash in the series finale at BB&T Ballpark. A 3-3 game in the sixth inning, Potomac grabbed the lead for good with three runs against Santos Rodriguez and held off Winston-Salem to avoid the series sweep. The Nationals stroked 15 hits and eight runs against four Dash pitchers after collecting 14 hits and five runs in the first three games combined.

You've Insulted My Honor: Last night's game featured a bench-clearing incident in the top of the fifth inning as emotions ran high in the series finale. Potomac's Steven Souza took exception to a high and tight 0-1 offering from Andre Rienzo and walked toward the mound. Both dugouts and bullpens cleared and there was some pushing, but no punches were thrown. When the dust settled, Souza and Nationals manager Matt LeCroy were ejected, both benches were warned, and the game resumed without further incident.

Stay All Season: Tonight the Dash begins a three-game series with the Kinston Indians. The Indians are always welcome at BB&T Ballpark. The K-Tribe has lost 22 of its last 24 games in the city of Winston-Salem. In 2009, Kinston won the first game it played at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park, but lost its last nine. The Indians lost eight in a row at BB&T Ballpark before picking up their first win at the new yard on July 27 of last year. The 17-game losing streak in Winston-Salem spanned nearly 14 months; 11 of those Dash wins were by just one run. The K-Tribe has not won consecutive games in Winston-Salem since August 25-27 of 2008.

When there's trouble you call DW: Daniel Wagner removed the goose egg from the home run total on his stat line, blasting his first homer of the season to lead off the seventh inning in last night's loss. Wagner hit a moon shot onto the bridge beyond right field for his first dinger since May 10, 2010, a span of 584 at bats between homers. The only Dash players now without home runs this season are Jason Bour and Jake Oester.

Thirsty for Thursday: Winston-Salem's thirst for a win on Thursday has not been quenched yet this season. The Dash are 0-5 on Thursdays in 2011, the only day of the week that the team has not tasted victory. The Dash are at their best on Sundays, sporting a 5-2 mark on that day this season. Last night's game tied the previous Thursday contest for the longest nine-inning game of the season for Winston-Salem, clocking in at three hours, 29 minutes.

Twin Wins in the Twin City: The Dash picked up walk-off wins in back-to-back ballgames against the Nationals earlier this week. On Tuesday, Jared Mitchell capped a late-inning comeback with a two-run double in the ninth to give Winston a 4-3 win. On Wednesday, Andy Wilkins scored from third base on a wild pitch in the tenth inning to send the Dash to a 2-1 victory. Wednesday's win was the fourth walk-off win of the season for the Dash. The Dash walked off winners 11 times last year, winning in that fashion in 16% of all the team's home games.

Stimulus Package: The Dash have a charitable solution to jump-starting our stalled economy: lots of free baseball. Wednesday night's ten-inning affair was the team's tenth extra-inning game of the season. Not only is that far and away the most in the Carolina League (Salem and Myrtle Beach are tied for second with five such contests), but it ties Winston-Salem with the Jupiter Hammerheads (Florida's Florida State League affiliate) and the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay's International League affiliate) for the most extra-inning games in all of minor league baseball. The Dash are 6-4 when the game goes beyond regulation in 2011.

Terre HOT: Nick Ciolli's blistering bunt was Wednesday night was his second hit of the game, giving him back-to-back two-hit games. The Terre Haute native is riding a nine-game hit streak that started on May 20. During the streak, Ciolli is batting .343 (12 for 35) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs, eight RBI, and five runs scored.

Easy to Reed: Addison Reed had another scoreless appearance Tuesday night, making it four in a row and eight straight innings since allowing his last run. With three more strikeouts against the P-Nats, Reed upped his total with the Dash to 29 in 22.1 innings. The hard-throwing right-hander is among the CL leaders in many categories. Among relievers, Reed is fifth in opponent batting average (.190), third in K/9 IP (11.69), second in fewest BB/9 IP (1.21), and fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.46).

Playing them close to the vest: The Dash have an inordinate number of close games this season, as 42 of the team's 53 games have been decided by three runs or fewer and the team has had a lead in 40 games this season. Winston has played 21 one-run games and 13 two-run games. The Dash are 10-11 in one-run games and 6-7 in two run contests. At this rate, the Dash would play 90 one - or two-run games this season.

Moonshot Monopoly: With three more home runs last night, the Dash extended their league-leading homer total to 50 on the season. Winston-Salem has hit nine more longballs than its closest competition (Lynchburg with 41) and more than double than last place Kinston (23). The Dash led the Carolina League in dingers last year with 112 and the team is on pace to blast 132 in 2011.

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP T.J. House (2-5, 5.68) makes his ninth start and tenth appearance of the season and his second straight against the Dash. He lost to the Dash last Friday in Kinston, allowing six runs on seven hits in five innings. He made four starts against Winston-Salem last year, going 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA and allowing the Dash to hit .368 against him. He put up better numbers against the rest of the Carolina League last year, going 6-10 with a 3.91 ERA (8th in the CL) in 27 games (26 starts, 3rd) and a .264 opponent batting average. House is ranked by Baseball America as the 14th-best prospect in the Cleveland organization. Just 21 years old, he spent his first professional season in 2009 with low-A Lake County, going 6-11 with a 3.15 ERA in 26 starts. Because most teams believed he was un-signable (he was reportedly asking for a $1.5 million bonus) and would follow through with his commitment to Tulane after high school, House fell until the 16th round before the Indians drafted him and signed him to a reported $750,000 bonus after Green Wave head coach Kevin Walter became the coach at Wake Forest. As a senior at Picayune (Miss.) HS, House went 7-2 with a 0.99 ERA, 99 strikeouts and 25 walks. Prior to his senior year, he pitched in qualifying action for Team USA, striking out six batters in three innings. In the offseason before his junior year, he participated with the swim team at his high school and helped them win a state championship in 2006. His fastball sits in the 87-91 mph range, occasionally touching 93. He also features a slider and a changeup, which is his best pitch and ranked by Baseball America as the best changeup in the Indians system.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from June 3, 2011


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