Sports stats



Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

June 30, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (4-2, 36-40) @ POTOMAC NATIONALS (3-4, 32-44)

Thursday, June 30, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium | Woodbridge, VA

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

Game No. 78 | Road Game No. 37 | 2011 Home Record 20-20 | 2011 Road Record 16-20

RHP Jake Petricka (â€", â€") @ RHP Paul Demny (4-7, 3.98)

Final Destin-ation: The P-Nats walked off 4-3 winners in last night’s series opener against the Dash thanks to Destin Hood’s RBI single in the tenth inning that scored Eury Perez from third base. Perez and Francisco Soriano both reached base to start the inning against J.R. Ballinger and, after a Jeff Koberbus groundout, Hood provided the dramatics to lift to the Nationals to victory. The lead changed three times over the first six innings, with neither squad holding more than a one-run cushion. After the Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, Mike Blanke tied the game with a solo home run to begin the seventh and ultimately force extra innings. After Blanke’s homer, however, the final 12 Dash batters were retired consecutively to finish the ballgame.

Sounds Like Somebody Has a Case of the Thursdays: Winston-Salem will try to force a rubber-game on Friday by winning tonight. Thursdays have been unkind to the Dash this season, as the team is only 1-8 on this particular day of the week. Winston does come into tonight’s game having won its most recent Thursday game. The Dash won the first game of the second half last Thursday, a 2-1 decision at Frederick.

Imperfect Ten: Last night’s ten-inning defeat dropped the Dash to 7-6 in extra-innings games this season. Winston-Salem’s 13 extra-inning games this season are the most in the Carolina League, two more than second-place Myrtle Beach. The Dash have played the most extra-inning games among all minor league baseball squads in 2011.

Blanke Check: Mike Blanke continues to show signs of breaking free from a slump that started in late May while he was still in Kannapolis. Blanke hit his second home run as a member of the Dash last night on the first pitch of the seventh inning to tie the game at three. Over his last six games, Blanke is hitting .333 (7 for 21) with two home runs to raise his Winston-Salem batting average from .189 to .241. The Canadian-born backstop was hitting .307 through May 22 for Kannapolis, but over his next 20 games between the Intimidators and Dash, he hit just .111 (8 for 72).

Pesky little Nats: Tonight the Dash begin a brief three-game road trip with the first of three at Potomac, the squad that beat Winston-Salem in last year’s Mills Cup Championship Series. The Dash have had few qualms with playing the Nationals this season, winning seven of the teams’ 11 matchups. The last time these teams met, tempers flared, benches cleared, and Potomac’s manager (Matt LeCroy) and first baseman (Steven Souza) were ejected in an eventual 8-5 Nats win. In each of the first three series the teams have played this season, the Dash have lost only the series finales. Potomac’s win last night was its first against the Dash in a game other than the series finale.

Ty High: After missing the first month of the season with a broken hand, Tyler Saladino has taken off offensively. He bounced back nicely from losing his seven-game hitting streak on Monday in last night’s series opener, going 2 for 4 with an RBI triple and a run scored. He has a base hit in 13 of his last 16 games and a multi-hit game in nine of the last 15 contests he has played in. Since June 5, Saladino is batting .343 (23 for 67) with seven doubles, a triple, three homers, ten RBI, and nine runs scored. He has raised his batting average 68 points to .253 during this period.

When You’re in Trouble, Just Call D.W.: Daniel Wagner has quietly started to heat up at the plate after a vexing first half of the season that saw the second baseman consistently hit laser beams right to opposing defenders that were converted into outs. Wagner has hit in ten of his last 12 games and is currently riding a four-game hitting streak. Over the last 12 games, the Kannapolis native is hitting .319 (15 for 47) with three doubles, one RBI, and five runs scored. He has raised his season average 18 points to .228 during this period, the highest it has been since May 15.

Recovery Summer: Jose Martinez’ first full healthy season as a professional continues to proceed swimmingly. Martinez missed roughly two full seasons worth of baseball from 2008â€"2010 after a series of right knee injuries that required three separate surgeries. Despite an 0 for 4 game last night that ended his seven-game hitting streak, Café is hitting .301, good for fourth in the Carolina League. After a six-game stretch when he went 1 for 23 that spanned the end of May and beginning of June, Martinez has hit in 17 of his last 20 games. He is batting .313 (26 for 83) during this period with 11 RBI. His 12 RBI in June are the most he has had in any month this season.

Chicks Dig the Long Ball: Winston-Salem has done the bulk of its damage against opposing pitchers in the second half via the home run. Of the 19 runs scored by the Dash since the All-Star break, 12 have come off of nine homers. Winston leads the Carolina League in home runs this season with 69, 15 more than second-place Salem.

Another Gac-Breaker: All-Star designated hitter Ian Gac’s eighth-inning two-run home run on Sunday proved to be the game-winner for Winston-Salem as the Dash reversed a pair of deficits to win the series opener. The dramatic home run was nothing new for the slugger; in fact, it has become habit for Gac to hit important home runs this season. Of his league-leading 19 homers, 11 have either tied the game or gave the Dash the lead. In addition to topping the Carolina League in home runs, Gac also leads the league in games played (75), extra-base hits (40), runs scored (51), total bases (150), and HR/AB ratio (1/14.84). He also ranks among the league leaders in at bats (3rd, 282), RBI (2nd, 52) doubles (4th, 21), and slugging percentage (5th, .539).

Today’s Opposing Starter: RHP Paul Demny (4-7, 3.98) makes his 15th start of the season tonight and his fourth against the Dash. He is 2-0 with a 3.63 ERA against Winston-Salem. Demny made his Advanced-A debut against Winston-Salem on April 13 and got a no-decision, allowing just one run on three hits over 5.2 innings. He won his last two starts against the Dash, most recently on June 2 when he allowed three runs (two earned) over 5.2 innings. His first win against Winston was on May 11 when he gave up four runs in six innings and struck out six. The East Bernard, Texas native has spent the last two seasons with low-A Hagerstown, going 6-10 with a 4.23 ERA in 27 starts last year and 3-11 with a 5.14 ERA in 23 starts in 2009. He suffered from bouts of inconsistency in both of his seasons with the Suns. While he had 15 starts in which he allowed one run or fewer, he also had 12 during which he yielded five or more runs. According to scouting reports, Demny’s inconsistency stems from inconsistent mechanics that have led to shaky control, leaving him effectively wild at times and uncomfortable for hitters to face. At 21 years old, he is the youngest pitcher on the P-Nats and the fourth youngest on the entire roster. He throws his four-seam fastball in the low-90s and his two-seamer in the high-80s. His repertoire also includes a curveball and changeup. Demny was selected in the sixth round of the 2008 draft after two years at Blinn College (Brenham, TX), where he mainly pitched in relief. He was originally selected by Atlanta in the 12th round in 2006 but did not sign. In high school, Demny was an All-State player and the Houston Chronicle Athlete of the Year. He was an accomplished hitter in high school, leading East Bernard HS in on-base percentage, slugging, doubles, and total bases.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...

Carolina League Stories from June 30, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Winston-Salem Dash Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central