CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on August 4, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (21-16, 53-54) vs. WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (15-23, 51-56)

Thursday, August 4, 2011, 7:00 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Game No. 110 | Home Game No. 58 | 2011 Home Record 30-26 | 2011 Road Record 23-28

RHP Andre Rienzo (3-4, 3.89) vs. RHP Tim Melville (8-6, 3.90)

Ain't Got No Alibi: No bones about it, last night's game was ugly for both sides. The two teams combined to commit seven errors and left 17 men on base. The contest appeared less gruesome for Wilmington, as the Blue Rocks won 6-2 to snap the Dash's seven-game winning streak. The decisive inning was the fourth, as Wilmington took advantage of a pair of Winston errors to score four runs off Jake Petricka and build a 5-0 lead. Justin Marks and the bullpen duo of Kendal Volz and Allen Caldwell stymied the Dash offense. The loss was Winston-Salem's first since Sunday, July 24 against the Potomac Nationals.

Evasive Eights: The Dash's seven-game winning streak was their longest of the season and helped the team to its best ten-game stretch of play this season, going 9-1 before last night's defeat. During the win streak, the Dash had both solid hitting and pitching. Winston hit .280 (92 for 328) during the win streak and posted a collective ERA of 2.14 (15 ER, 63 IP). The Dash outscored their opponents during the streak 42-18. Six of the wins came against Kinston and Myrtle Beach, who are in third and second place in overall record, respectively, and are a combined 19 games over .500.

Who Stopped J.R.': At one point this season, J.R. Ballinger had the Midas Touch when it came to pitching for the Dash. The right-hander from Moss Point, Mississippi earned the win in each of his first four appearances for Winston-Salem, posting a miniscule ERA of 0.90 (1 ER, 10 IP). Since getting the win on June 12 against Wilmington, Ballinger has pitched exclusively in games the Dash would go on to lose. He has appeared in nine consecutive Dash losses, going 0-2 in that stretch with a 6.16 ERA (13 ER, 19 IP).

New World Order: Despite last night's loss, the Dash stayed atop the Southern Division for the fifth straight day. Winston-Salem leads Kinston by two games, Myrtle Beach by 2.5 games, and Salem by 4.5 for a second half playoff spot.

Mitches get Stitches: Jared Mitchell went 2 for 5 with a double and a run batted in last night for Winston-Salem. The former first rounder ran his hit streak to a career-hest eight games. He is batting .367 (11 for 30) during the streak and is hitting .372 (16 for 43) over his last 11 games. Mitchell is tied for first in the Carolina League in triples (7) and is first in doubles (28) this season.

Tough Rocks to Crack: Tonight Winston-Salem concludes its series with the Wilmington Blue Rocks and looks for its first series victory against the Future Royals of America this season. The Dash have struggled with the Blue Crew this season, winning just five of 16 matchups between the teams. The Blue Rocks still trail first-place Frederick in the Northern Division by ten games and are six 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 (4,545) in average attendance and have a slight lead over third-place Frederick (4,420). Wilmington has second-lowest scoring offense (416 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 .280 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 three 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 nine games without a home run, tying his 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 (107), first in at bats (402), tied for third in hits (107), third in doubles (27), first in slugging percentage (.535), second in extra-base hits (54), first in runs scored (68), first in total bases (215), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.89). He is on pace to hit 35 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: RHP Tim Melville (8-6, 3.90) makes his 23rd appearance of the season, and 19th start for Wilmington. He will start for the second time in 2011 against the Dash. In his first start, Melville picked up the win in six shutout innings at BB&T Ballpark on June 10. He gave up four hits and struck out four. Because of pitch count limitations, Melville was moved to the bullpen for four appearances from July 9 until the 19th. He made his first start since entering the bullpen on July 24 and threw 3.1 innings against Kinston, allowing four runs (earned). In his last start, also against Kinston (July 29), he picked up his first win in seven outings after throwing seven scoreless innings. He gave up only two hits, and earned Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors. Melville won three straight starts in mid-May where he gave up only five runs (four earned) in 15.2 innings combined. Coming into the season, he was ranked by Baseball America as the 14th-best prospect in the Royals system. He split 2010 between the Arizona League Royals and Wilmington. With the Blue Rocks, Melville was 2-12 with a 4.97 ERA in 22 starts. He faced Winston-Salem four times last year, and was 0-3 with a 10.38 ERA and the Dash hit .378 against him. In three out of the four starts, Winston scored six or more runs against Melville. He was drafted by Kansas City out of high school in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft and was committed to the University of North Carolina before signing. His repertoire includes a fastball, curveball, and changeup.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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