CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on July 22, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (12-14, 44-52) vs. POTOMAC NATIONALS (16-10, 45-50)

Friday, July 22, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Game No. 98 | Home Game No. 49 | 2011 Home Record 23-24 | 2011 Road Record 21-28

RHP Jake Petricka (0-4, 6.88) vs. LHP Sammy Solis (3-0, 2.84)

Mighty Morphin' Power Graingers: If Wednesday's game was indeed the final time that Winston-Salem will play a game at Grainger Stadium, it will not en up being a memorable one for the future Pale Hose. The Dash held three two-run leads and took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, only to see Kinston score twice that inning and once more in the eighth to beat the Dash 5-4 in the series finale. Two Winston errors led to two unearned runs, including the tying tally in the seventh. Adam Abraham snapped the 4-4 game with an RBI double off J.R. Ballinger in the eighth, scoring pinch runner Justin Toole from second base. Wednesday's contest marked the second time in three games that the Dash could not hold a late lead and the Indians scored three late runs to win by a 5-4 final score. The K-Tribe scored thrice in the ninth inning on Monday to rally from a 4-2 deficit win. The Indians won the series three games to one in what will likely by Winston's final trip to Grainger Stadium, as the Indians franchise will move to Zebulon, NC and become the new Carolina Mudcats in 2012.

Road Trip Recap: The Dash's loss on Wednesday brought the end of the team's season-long 11-game road trip. Winston-Salem finished 4-11 in the games at Salem, Lynchburg, and Kinston. Winston was swept in three games by the Red Sox, won three of four against the Hillcats, and lost three of four to the Indians. The offense wilted under the summer heat, as the Dash hit just .205 on the trip. After a rough pitching series in Salem (9.38 ERA over three games), Winston's hurlers posted a collective ERA of 3.41 over the final seven games of the trip. The team ERA over the course of the 11 games was 4.95.

Red Hot American Summer: Tonight the Dash will play their first home game in exactly two weeks, but the schedulers did Winston-Salem no favors for their first series back at BB&T Ballpark as the red-hot Potomac Nationals come to town. The P-Nats are tied for first place in the Northern Division at 16-10 with first half champion Frederick. Potomac holds a six-game lead on Wilmington for a second half playoff spot and leads last place Lynchburg by seven games. Since starting the second half 2-4, the Nationals have won 14 of their last 20 games, including winning two of three against the Dash at Pfitzner Stadium June 29 - July 1. Both the offense and pitching have picked up for the P-Nats as the defending champs attempt to make it back to the Carolina League playoffs. After hitting a league-worst eight home runs in June, they are tied for second with 16 already this month. The Nationals had the worst team ERA in each of the first two months of the year, but have been second and third in ERA in June and July, respectively. Over this two month stretch, their record of 27-17 is third only to Kinston and Frederick.

Birthday Bash: Dash shortstop Tyler Saladino celebrated his 22nd birthday on Wednesday with a home run in his first at bat of the day against Brett Brach. The homer was his 13th of the season, tying him for fourth in the Carolina League despite missing the first month of the season recovering from a broken hand. The dinger was his second of the road trip, which other than the home runs, was not kind to Saladino. He hit just .116 (5 for 43) during the 11-game stint away from BB&T Ballpark after he had hit .324 over the previous month-plus.

That Cam-Do Attitude: Cameron Bayne pitched very well for much of his start on Wednesday, but succumbed to a high pitch count in the high heat by the end of the day. After allowing just one earned run on three hits over the first five innings, he ran into trouble in the seventh and allowed two runs to score to tie the game (although one of the runs was unearned). Bayne left the game with two outs in the inning and got a no-decision for the game. He allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk over 6.2 innings. Bayne set a new season-high tied a career-high with seven strikeouts, a mark he had previously set twice last year with Kannapolis.

Gacplosions In The Sky: Although Ian Gac could not extend his homer streak to three straight games on Wednesday, he did extend his second-longest hitting streak of the season to nine games with an eighth-inning single off Preston Guilmet. He belted three homers between the games on Monday and Tuesday and earlier on the road trip he hit home runs in three consecutive ballgames. Over an eight-game stretch from July 11 - 19, Gac hit .407 (11 for 27) with six home runs, two doubles, and 15 RBI. He has terrorized the Indians this season, hitting eight home runs and five doubles with 23 RBI versus the K-Tribe in 16 games. Gac leads the Carolina League with 26 home runs and 72 RBI, 11 more homers and 13 more RBI than the closest players in either category in the CL. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (96), second in at bats (361), fourth in hits (98), second in doubles (26), second in slugging percentage (.560), first in extra-base hits (52), first in runs scored (64), first in total bases (202), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/13.88). He is on pace to hit 38 home runs this season which would surpass his previous career-high of 32 in 2008.

Putting the "K" in Kussmaul: Ryan Kussmaul threw one more scoreless inning on Wednesday and struck out two Indians to continue a productive and K-filled stretch of pitching. The Wisconsin native and Iowa resident has been lights out lately, not allowing an earned run in his last 12 appearances. In 19 innings over this period, he has allowed six hits, walked four, struck out 39, and held hitters to a .098 average (6 for 61). He has lowered his season ERA more than two full runs since June 7 from 5.11 to 2.89. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers in strikeouts per nine innings with 14.02, more than two better than Keys closer Sean Gleason (11.70). Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (68) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (43.2).

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Sammy Solis (3-0, 2.84) makes his fourth start of the season for Potomac, and first against Winston-Salem. The start of his first full professional season was delayed at the beginning of this year because of a quadriceps injury he suffered during spring training, and he made his 2011 debut with low-A Hagerstown on May 30. Solis was 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA in seven starts with the Suns before his promotion to Potomac. All three of his starts with the P-Nats have been quality starts, including a scoreless seven-inning appearance in his second start against Lynchburg. Ranked by Baseball America as the sixth-best prospect in the Nationals organization, Solis was drafted in the second round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of the University of San Diego. The Litchfield Park, AZ native signed two days before the August 16 deadline for $1 million. He made two starts in Hagerstown last year and didn't allow a run on only two hits in four innings. After the season, Solis played in the Arizona Fall League and had a 3.80 ERA in 24 innings. He went 9-2 with a 3.42 ERA in his last year at USD after missing all of 2009 with the Toreros because of a herniated disc in his back. He was initially drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of high school in the 18th round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Solis features a fastball that can sit 88-92 and top out at 94 with late movement, a changeup ranked by Baseball America as the best in the Nationals' 2010 draft class, and a knuckle-curve that can range from 74-81.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from July 22, 2011


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