Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes
Published on July 24, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release
Cliffhanger: A game that looked safely in hand nearly got away last night, as the Dash saw a seven-run lead almost completely evaporate in a 9-8 win over the Nationals. The Dash rode the wave of offensive momentum from their series opening 10-3 win on Friday night, scoring nine times in the first four innings. Winston-Salem scored five in the first inning-three off Juan Silverio's bases-loaded triple-and two each in the third and fourth, as Ian Gac and Tyler Saladino hit matching two-run home runs. Leading 9-2 heading into the fifth, Potomac's offense erupted against Joe Serafin. The P-Nats scored thrice in the fifth and two more times in the sixth, blasting four home runs against Serafin (a career-high) before the lefty was relieved with no outs in the sixth. The Nationals made it a one-run game with a successful safety squeeze in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Taylor Thompson got the first two batters before putting the next two on, but worked out the jam by getting Cutter Dykstra to ground out to second to end the game. The Dash stayed 3.5 games behind Kinston in the division and got back .500 in the second half. Winston-Salem will go for the series sweep tonight; the team's only sweep of the season came May 13-15 at Salem.
Out-hit, but not outplayed or outlasted: The Dash won last night despite being severely out-hit by the Nationals. Potomac had 13 hits to Winston-Salem's six, as the Dash managed just an infield single after the fourth inning. While Winston's hits were relatively sparse, they came in big situations. Four of the Dash's six hits drove in all nine of the runs the team scored. With the win, Winston-Salem improved to 8-40 when recording fewer hits than the opposition.
Packing them in: Last night's game drew 6,985 fans, marking the 16th sellout at BB&T Ballpark this season (two more sellouts than at this point last season). The Dash lead the Carolina League in both total attendance (218,789) and average attendance (4,655) for the second straight season. Winston's average attendance is up from last year's 4,593 while the average and total numbers are the best among all Advanced-A teams.
Gacplosions In The Sky: A night after seeing his nine-game hit streak come to an end, Ian Gac wasted no time starting a new one on Saturday. He doubled home a run in his first at bat and hit a two-run homer in his second. The home run was his eighth of the month, tying him for fifth in all of minor league baseball in July. His Carolina League-leading 27 home runs are tied for the fourth most in MiLB this season. He has 12 more home runs that any other player in the CL and his 75 RBI are 15 more than second place.. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (98), second in at bats (368), tied for third in hits (100), second in doubles (27), second in slugging percentage (.565), first in extra-base hits (54), first in runs scored (66), first in total bases (208), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/13.63). He is on pace to hit 39 home runs this season which would surpass his previous career-high of 32 in 2008. He has 154 career homers in nine professional seasons.
QuickSilverio: New Dash third baseman Juan Silverio has wasted no time adjusting to Advanced-A. The Dominican, who was promoted to Winston-Salem last Monday, has hit in all five games that he has played with Winston-Salem. He hit a three-run triple in the first inning last night and is now 9 for 20 (.450) at the plate with the Dash with two doubles, two triples, six RBI, and six runs scored. Silverio started the season for Kannapolis and hit .289 with five homers, 29 doubles, six triples, and 58 RBI in 88 games before his promotion. The 20-year-old was at one point ranked by Baseball America as the tenth-best White Sox minor league prospect and may now be reaching his considerable potential.
Saturday Night Live: Last night's game continued a high-scoring trend for Saturday games at BB&T Ballpark. In the last four Saturday night games at the home of the Dash, teams have combined to score a total of 61 runs. Seventeen runs crossed the plate in last night's 9-8 Winston win; three weeks earlier on July 2, the Dash and Red Sox combined to score 22 runs in a 12-10 Dash win. On June 11, Wilmington beat Winston-Salem 9-4 and one week earlier the Dash lost 8-1 to Kinston. Those four games averaged just over 15 runs between the two sides.
Yard Barkers: As expected, last night's game featured plenty of home runs as the teams combined for six long balls, all coming against the starting pitchers. Paul Demny and Joe Serafin entered the game ranked first and second in home runs allowed this season in the Carolina League, respectively. Demny surrendered two homers to up his season total to 17 while Serafin yielded a career-high four bombs, giving him 16 opponent home runs this season. Potomac entered the game tied for last in the CL with 56 home runs, but still managed to hit four last night. It was the second time in seven weeks a team accomplished that same feat. Kinston hit four homers against Ryan Buch at BB&T Ballpark on June 4. The Indians, like the P-Nats last night, entered that game last in the CL in home runs for the season. The Dash, meanwhile, hold a commanding lead in home runs hit this season 94, 25 more than second-place Frederick.
Kuss Kracked: Someone finally scored an earned run off of Dash reliever Ryan Kussmaul, ending an impressive stretch for the right-hander. Kussmaul allowed an earned run in the eighth inning last night, his first in his last 13 appearances. Prior to this streak ending last night, he had thrown 19 innings, allowed six hits, walked four, struck out 39, and held hitters to a .098 average (6 for 61). He lowered his season ERA more than two full runs since June 7 from 5.11 to 2.89 prior to the streak ending. Kussmaul still leads all Carolina League relievers in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.80, more than two better than Keys closer Sean Gleason (11.63). Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (69) despite only ranking sixth among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (45.0).
Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Cameron Selik (3-6, 4.00) makes his 11th start of the season for Potomac and second against Winston-Salem. The Dash beat him on July 1, scoring five times on nine hits in five innings. He started the season with low-A Hagerstown where he went 3-0 with a 0.31 ERA in five starts. He allowed only one run in 29 innings with the Suns, and made his first start for Potomac on May 7 against Kinston. Though he gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings and got the loss, that start was his first complete game of the year. Against Wilmington on June 3, Selik gave up one unearned run on seven hits and got the win in nine innings of work (second complete game). The San Diego native was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2010 MLB First Year Player Draft out of the University of Kansas. He spent last year with Short Season Vermont and made 15 appearances out of the bullpen. He was 1-0 with a 2.54 ERA and registered one save in 28.1 innings. Selik grew up as a catcher and corner infielder, but converted to a pitcher while at Grossmont College in 2008. Shortly after that, he injured his elbow and required Tommy John surgery. UNLV had offered him a scholarship, but reneged and Selik instead attended Kansas.
Carolina League Stories from July 24, 2011
- P-Nats Salvage Finale with 6-3 Win - Potomac Nationals
- P-Nats Salvage Soaked Series Finale - Winston-Salem Dash
- Keys Sweep Away Pelicans - Frederick Keys
- Frederick Wraps up Sweep of Pelicans - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Rocks Swept in Final Series at Grainger Stadium - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Kinston Scores Another Comeback Win Over Wilmington - Kinston Indians
- Myrtle Beach Pelicans Game Notes - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
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