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CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

July 15, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (10-10, 42-48) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (6-14, 36-54)

Friday, July 15, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | Lynchburg City Stadium | Lynchburg, VA

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

Game No. 92 | Road Game No. 44 | 2011 Home Record 23-24 | 2011 Road Record 19-24

RHP Cameron Bayne (7-4, 3.58) @ RHP Zeke Spruill (7-7, 3.17)

Seventh Heaven: Season Two: For the second straight night, the Dash broke open a tie game with three runs in the seventh inning en route to doubling up the Hillcats by a 6-3 margin. With the game knotted at three, Andy Wilkins hit a two-run double to give Winston the lead and Ian Gac followed with an RBI single to finish the scoring. The pitching made those three runs stand, as the Dash staff retired the final 12 Lynchburg batters in order to complete the victory. Winston-Salem moved to three games behind first place Kinston, which was rained out for the second straight night at Potomac.

Milestone Moonshot: With his tiebreaking home run in the third inning last night, Ian Gac not only gave the Dash a 3-1 lead, but he also blasted the 150th home run of his professional career (all of them coming below the AA level). Gac entered the season with 127 career dingers and has hit a Carolina League-leading 23 in 2011 to reach the milestone number. The nine-year pro hit his first three home runs in his first professional season back in 2003 on the AZL Rangers. His first double-digit home run season came in 2006 when he hit 16 with low-A Clinton and Advanced-A Bakersfield. Gac is on pace to hit 36 homers this season, which would eclipse his career-high of 32 that he hit in 2008.

Back on Gac: After going 3 for 23 offensively over a six-game stretch, Ian Gac has bounced back over the last three games, going 5 for 11 with three home runs, seven RBI, four runs scored, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch. Gac has hit 23 home runs this season, 13 of which have either tied the game or given Winston-Salem the lead. The slugger strengthened his hold on the CL lead in RBI with 64 on the season, six better than Salem's Dan Butler. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (90), second in at bats (341), fourth in hits (91), tied for third in doubles (24), second in slugging percentage (.540), first in extra-base hits (47), first in runs scored (61), first in total bases (184), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.83).

Making Two-Out Trouble: The Dash have made a living with two outs in this series, scoring all but one of their ten runs with two outs in the inning. On Wednesday, Winston's first run of the game scored on a sacrifice fly that accounted for the second out of the fourth inning; later in the game, Ian Gac's three-run home run came after back-to-back walks with two outs in the seventh. Last night, Gac's two-run homer in the third inning came with two outs in the frame, as did Wilkins' two-run double and Gac's RBI single in the seventh.

Putting the "K" in Kussmaul: Ryan Kussmaul was dominant in 1.2 innings of relief Wednesday night. The right-hander entered the game with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Dash leading by two runs with two Hillcats in scoring position. After striking out Joe Leonard, he got Geraldo Rodriguez to pop out to shortstop to end the threat and the inning. In the ninth, Kussmaul struck out all three batters to finish off his third save in as many chances this season. The Wisconsin native and Iowa resident has been lights out lately, not allowing an earned run in his last ten appearances. In 15 innings over this period, he has allowed six hits, walked four, struck out 31, and held hitters to a .111 average (6 for 54). He has lowered his season ERA more than two full runs since June 7 from 5.11 to 3.05. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.72, more than 1.5 better than Keys closer Sean Gleason (12.11). Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (63) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (41.1).

The Elusive Clean Sheet: The Dash committed three more errors last night last night to continue an unfortunate trend defensively. Winston-Salem has not played a nine-inning game without committing and error in 18 consecutive games. The last clean defensive nine-inning game the Dash played was on June 24 at Frederick, the second game of the second half. Winston has committed ten errors in the last four games and 105 errors this season, the second-most in the Carolina League (four fewer than Potomac, which leads the league).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Zeke Spruill (7-7, 3.17) makes his 19th start of the season and his second against Winston-Salem. On May 6 at BB&T Ballpark, Spruill got the loss when he gave up six runs (all earned) in six innings while striking out eight. He's thrown four complete games in 2011 including a nine-inning, three-hit shutout against Kinston on May 16. Over his last six starts, Spruill is 3-1 with an ERA of 1.49. He faced the Dash twice last year as a member of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. He allowed eight runs on eight hits in 9.2 innings (7.45), taking a loss and a no-decision against Winston in 2010. Spruill entered last season ranked by Baseball America as the eighth-best prospect in the Braves system but dropped out of the top 30 entering 2011. Last year with the Pelicans, Spruill struggled, going 3-5 with a 5.54 ERA in 14 games (13 starts). His season was interrupted by a broken hand he suffered after his second start of the season, forcing him to miss two months. A 21-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, started his professional career by winning his first 13 decisions over two seasons with the GCL Braves and low-A Rome. He was a South Atlantic League All-Star in 2009, going 8-6 with a 3.03 ERA and one save for Rome. He went 7-0 with a 2.93 ERA for the GCL Braves in 2008 and was named the team's "Pitcher of the Year." Atlanta drafted Spruill in the second round in 2008 (70th overall). He throws a fastball that sits in the low-90s, a slider, a curveball, and a changeup.

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