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Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

August 3, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (21-15, 53-53) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (14-23, 50-56)

Tuesday, August 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. 109 | Home Game No. 57 | 2011 Home Record 30-25 | 2011 Road Record 23-28

RHP Jake Petricka (2-4, 4.66) vs. LHP Justin Marks (5-8, 4.73)

Grammar Slammer: Led by Nick Ciolli's inside-the-park grand slam, the Dash beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks 6-4 last night to extend their season-best win streak to seven games. Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the third and the bases loaded, Ciolli blasted a 3-2 pitch off the wall in center field. The ball bounced past two Rocks outfielders as Ciolli raced all the way around the bases and past an off-line throw to score. Both teams scored twice more and Taylor Thompson worked around a pair of ninth inning singles to save the game and send Winston-Salem to another win.

Oh, say, can you Ciolli: Nick Ciolli's grand slam was the first hit by a Dash batter this season and the first by a Winston-Salem player since Drew Garcia hit one on May 8, 2010 against the Salem Red Sox. Along with Garcia's slam and John Whittleman's for the Blue Rocks on Easter Sunday of this year, Ciolli's grand slam was the third-ever at BB&T Ballpark. It was also the first-ever inside-the-park home run of any kind at the Dash's two-year-old home. Winston-Salem became the last team in the Carolina League to hit a grand slam this season, while Wilmington became the first team to allow three of them. Tyler Sample has allowed two of the grand slams given up by the Blue Rocks this year, including the most recent slam in the league prior to Ciolli's on July 5 to Potomac's J.P. Ramirez. The inside-the-park grand slam earned Ciolli a spot on SportsCenter's "Top Ten" plays from Tuesday night with the homer ranking at number seven on the 1 a.m. edition of the program. Ciolli was featured on a variety of national programs last month for robbing home runs on back-to-back nights including, coincidentally enough, a grand slam against Myrtle Beach.

A Steal of the Deal: Last night the Dash stole three bases, marking a new season-high for the team. Winston had stolen two bases in a game seven times this season, but never more than that. The Dash did not steal any more than two bases in any game last year; the last time the team had three steals in a game was on September 3, 2009 against the Salem Red Sox in the last regular season game Winston-Salem played at the stadium formerly known as Ernie Shore Field. Jared Mitchell stole two of the bases the Dash swiped last night, tying a career-high. The only other time Mitchell stole two bases was on August 9, 2009.

Firing Blankes: Mike Blanke was 2 for 4 last night with two doubles and a run batted in. In his last two home games, Blanke is 4 for 8 with four doubles, giving him six two-baggers since joining the Carolina League in June.

Streak Speak: The Dash's seven-game winning streak is their longest of the season and the team has won nine of its last ten games, the best ten-game record this season. During the win streak, the Dash have had both solid hitting and pitching. Winston has hit .280 (92 for 328) during the win streak and has posted a collective ERA of 2.14 (15 ER, 63 IP). The Dash have outscored their opponents during the streak 42-18. Six of the wins have not come against the Carolina League's sisters of the poor; Kinston and Myrtle Beach are in third and second place in overall record, respectively, and are a combined 20 games over .500.

New World Order: The Dash stayed atop the Southern Division for the fourth straight day after last night's game. Winston-Salem leads Myrtle Beach by 2.5 games, but more importantly lead Kinston by three games and Salem by 5.5 for a second half playoff spot. ch The 2.5 game lead is the biggest the Dash have had in the division all season. Overall, the Dash are 53-53, marking the first time the team has .500 since April 20. A win tonight would move Winston over .500 for the first time since April 19.

Mitches get Stitches: Jared Mitchell went 1 for 4 with an RBI single, a walk, a run scored, and two stolen bases last night for Winston-Salem. The former first rounder ran his hit streak to seven games, tying a season - and career-high. He is batting .360 (9 for 25) during the streak and is hitting .368 (14 for 48) over his last ten games. Mitchell is tied for first in the Carolina League in triples (7) and is tied for second in doubles (27) this season.

Tough Rocks to Crack: Tonight Winston-Salem continues its series with the Wilmington Blue Rocks and look for its first series victory against the Future Royals of America after last night's win. The Dash have struggled with the Blue Crew this season, winning just five of 15 matchups between the teams. The Blue Rocks still trail first-place Frederick in the Northern Division by 11 games and are seven games back of Potomac, which is currently leading the race for the second half playoff spot. The most competitive race for Wilmington at the moment is for the 2011 attendance crown; the Blue Rocks (4,534) are second to the Dash (4,567) in average attendance and have a slight lead over third-place Frederick (4,449). Wilmington has second-lowest scoring offense (410 runs), the third-lowest batting average (.245), and the second-fewest home runs (60) in the Carolina League, but that has been far from the case against Winston-Salem. The Blue Rocks have hit .285 against the Dash (the best they have hit against any CL team this season) and have battered Winston for 20 home runs (exactly one-third of their season haul and ten more than they have hit against Kinston, their second-favorite team to hit homers against). Fortunately for Winston-Salem, both Nick Francis (.420 batting average, .800 slugging percentage against the Dash) and Rey Navarro (team-high four home runs against the Dash) have both been promoted to AA Northwest Arkansas and will not be around to hurt the team in this series.

Marathon Men: Hopefully the Dash got plenty of rest on their off-day Monday, because today is day two of a long stretch of continuous baseball for the team. Winston-Salem is in a stretch that will see the team play 29 games in 27 days until the Dash's next off-day on Monday, August 29. That includes the doubleheader against Myrtle Beach on August 26 and the resumption of an earlier suspended game against Lynchburg on August 15, when the teams will restart tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the first inning, followed by a seven-inning game immediately afterward.

‚¬ËœMaul of America: Ryan Kussmaul earned his fourth save of the season Friday night with a perfect ninth inning. He struck out the last two batters he faced to continue his terrific season. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.17 strikeouts per nine innings, more than three full K's more than second-place Sean Gleason (10.80). He is fourth among all full-season minor leaguers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (74) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (47.0).

Gac Nap: Ian Gac leads the Carolina League with 27 home runs and is tied for fourth in all of minor league baseball in the category. Gac, however, has gone eight games without a home run, his second-longest homer drought of the season. He still has ten more home runs that any other player in the CL and his 78 RBI are 11 more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (106), first in at bats (398), tied for third in hits (107), tied for second in doubles (27), first in slugging percentage (.540), second in extra-base hits (54), first in runs scored (68), first in total bases (215), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.74). He is on pace to hit 36 home runs this season which would surpass his previous career-high of 32 in 2008. He has 154 career homers in nine professional seasons.

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Justin Marks (5-8, 4.73) makes his 16th start and 22nd appearance of the season tonight and his third start against the Dash. He is 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in a pair of starts against Winston. Marks has shown flashes of effectiveness this season (three starts of five or more innings with no runs allowed), but has also had his rough moments. He has given up 15 runs in his last three starts combined, totaling 16.1 innings. Marks is in his first year with the Royals organization after he was traded from the Athletics this past offseason along with RHP Vin Mazzaro for OF David DeJesus. He and Mazzaro became expendable when the A's won the bidding for Japanese RHP Hisashi Iwakuma. He hails from Owensboro, Kentucky, the same hometown as former Dash catcher Logan Johnson; the two players, however, attended different high schools. They did play together at the University of Louisville, where Marks was the 2009 Big East Pitcher of the Year and Third Team All-America, spurring Oakland to select him with the team's third round draft pick. He had a stellar career for the Cardinals, earning Big East accolades in all three of his seasons with UofL. After making one start in 2009 for the AZL Athletics, he split 2010 between low-A Kane County (20 GS, 3-12, 4.92 ERA 119 K in 109.2 IP) and Advanced-A Stockton (5 G, 4 GS, 3-1, 4.58 ERA, 17 K in 19.2 IP). In high school, he was named the top prep prospect in the state and was drafted by Boston in the 37th round. The middle of three children, he grew up on a tobacco farm.

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