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CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

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


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (27-21, 59-59) vs. LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (20-28, 50-68)

Monday, August 15, 2011, 6:00 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Games No. 76 & 120 | Home Games No. 41 & 61 | 2011 Home Record 33-27 | 2011 Road Record 26-32

Game One: RHP Andre Rienzo (4-4, 3.49) vs. RHP David Hale (3-4, 3.44)

Game Two: RHP Ryan Buch (2-4, 5.59) vs. RHP Gary Moran (1-0, 0.00)

Pe-Trick and Treat: Jake Petricka threw seven strong innings and Nick Ciolli hit a late three-run home run to lead the Dash past the Frederick Keys 5-2 yesterday afternoon at Harry Grove Stadium. The win snapped Winston-Salem's three-game losing streak and helped the Dash avoid a four-game sweep against Frederick. The Keys scratched a run across Petricka in the third inning, but Winston responded with two in the fourth and Ciolli's blast in the eighth to put away the home team. Petricka lasted seven innings for the second straight outing, scattering five hits and one walk with one run allowed to improve to 3-6 with a 4.04 ERA in nine Carolina League starts. The series defeat was the first for the Dash since July 17-20 at Kinston, ending a six-series winning streak.

Paused no longer: Tonight the Dash return home for one series at BB&T Ballpark against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Before starting tonight's regularly scheduled game, the teams will finish the contest that started on June 28 that was suspended by rain after half an inning. The first game will start in the bottom of the first inning with no score at 6 p.m. and will be a normal, nine-inning regulation game. Game two will be a seven-inning contest that will start approximately 30 minutes after the first game wraps up. After the series finishes on Wednesday, the Dash will hit the road for eight games in Potomac and Salem.

Standings Update: The Dash reclaimed sole possession of first place in the Southern Division with yesterday's win and Kinston's loss at Salem. Winston leads the K-Tribe by one game, first half champion Myrtle Beach by 3.5 games, and Salem by 5.5 games.

Road Trip Recap: In the two-series road trip to Wilmington and Frederick, the Dash went 3-4. Winston won two of three games against the Blue Rocks before dropping three of four against the Keys. The Dash hit .222 as a team and posted an ERA of 4.58.

Unleashing his inner Danimal:, Daniel Wagner continued his good stretch of offensive play yesterday, going 1 for 2 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt. In his last eight games, Wagner is batting .385 (10 for 26) to raise his season batting average to .246. That is the highest mark his average has reached since May 3, when it stood at .248.

The Sad Ballad of Salad: Yesterday marked the end of shortstop Tyler Saladino's modest seven-game hitting streak. Saladino went 0 for 4 with a sacrifice bunt in the series finale. The hitting streak, which tied his longest of the season, consisted of just one hit ing has a put together a modest seven-game hitting streak after stroking an eighth inning double last night. Saladino has managed just one hit in each of the seven games and is batting .250 (7 for 28) during the streak, which is tied for his longest of the season.

Power Outage: One of the reasons for the Dash's slow offensive series against the Keys (11 runs in four games) was that their power bats were silenced by Frederick's pitchers. Andy Wilkins and Ian Gac were a combined 1 for 27 (.037) in the series with no extra-base hits or runs batted in. They were a combined 8 for 66 (.121) during the seven-game road trip.

Smoking a Dubler: Winston backup catcher Kevin Dubler continued to produce since his call-up to the Carolina League last month. Friday night Dubler went 1 for 3 with a two-run home run, a walk, and two runs scored. Since joining the Dash, Dubler has had a base hit in every game and is batting .364 with three doubles, two homers, eight RBI, and eight runs scored. The Downers Grove, Illinois native has an eight-game hitting streak going back to his final game with Kannapolis and is batting .417 (10 for 24) during the streak. His streak of getting a base hit in his first at bat of every game with the Dash did come to an end last night, however, as he flied out to left field his first time up in the third inning.

30 for 33: Ian Gac is coming off a quiet series, but he still leads the Carolina League with 30 home runs and is tied for the second-most in all of minor league baseball in the category (current major leaguer Paul Goldschmidt has 30 and the Iowa Cubs' Bryan LaHair has 32). Gac has 12 more home runs that any other player in the CL and his 82 RBI are seven more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (118), tied for second in at bats (435), seventh in batting average (.274), tied for third in hits (119), tied for third in doubles (28), first in slugging percentage (.545), second in extra-base hits (58), first in runs scored (79), first in total bases (237), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.50). He is on pace to hit 36 home runs this season which would surpass his previous career-high of 32 in 2008. That total would also be tied for the most in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Gac has 157 career homers in nine professional seasons.

Winning Formula: The odds are pretty good for Winston-Salem to come away with the victory when Ian Gac homers. The Dash are 19-8 in games Gac hits a home run, good for a .703 winning percentage. The Dash are just 40-51 (.440) when Gac does not homer. The Dash are 10-6 (.625) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run, but have won 10 of the last 12 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

‚¬ËœMaul Drat: Ryan Kussmaul suffered a bit of a hiccup during an otherwise otherworldly second half of the season. Kussmaul allowed a home run and a walk in two innings yesterday against the Keys. The home run was the second the right-hander has allowed all season and the first since May 7. Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He has allowed three runs (two earned) on nine hits in his last 18 appearances, sporting a 0.68 ERA (2 ER, 26.1 IP) with a .105 batting average against (9 for 86) and 49 strikeouts (six walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.29 strikeouts per nine innings, more than three full K's more than second-place Sean Gleason (10.95). He is second among all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (81) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (51.0). He also leads CL relievers with a .163 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.65).

Today's Game One Opposing Pitcher: RHP David Hale (3-4, 3.44) makes his 24th appearance of the season for Lynchburg tonight. In three games (one start) against the Dash, he has no record and a 4.26 ERA, allowing three runs on five hits in 6.1 innings. Since becoming a starter in early July, Hale is 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA and a complete game. He has pitched into the seventh inning in four of his last five starts. He began the season in the bullpen for the Hillcats and registered a 1-2 record and 5.64 ERA in his 15 relief appearances. A third round draft pick in 2009 out of Princeton, Hale is ranked by Baseball America as the 17th-best prospect in the Braves organization. He made his debut in 2009 in Rookie Danville and went 2-1 with a 1.13 ERA in seven appearances (one start). Last year he moved up to low-A Rome and struggled as a starter, registering an ERA of 7.99 in four starts (0-4). After he moved to the bullpen, Hale went 5-3 with a 2.16 ERA and five saves. The Marietta, GA native throws a 93-94 mph fastball that can top out at 96, a slider that can reach 84-86, and a changeup.

Today's Game Two Opposing Starter: RHP Gary Moran (1-0, 0.00) makes his third Carolina League start in today's second game and his first against the Dash. Today Moran was named the Carolina League's "Pitcher of the Week" for an outstanding performance on Tuesday night against Kinston. The right-hander threw eight innings of one-hit, shutout ball with eight strikeouts en route to earning the victory. In his CL debut on August 4, Moran yielded two unearned runs on five hits in six innings in a no-decision against Frederick. He was signed by the Braves organization in June out of the independent Frontier League where he played a season-and-a-half for the River City Rascals. He was assigned to low-A Rome and made nine appearances (six starts), putting up a 4-1 record with a 3.50 ERA. He led River City to its first ever Frontier League championship in 2010 and posted the second-best single-season ERA in organization history (2.68). He continued his stellar pitching into this season where he put up a 2-1 record with a 1.57 ERA before signing with the Braves. Moran was originally drafted in the 41st round of the 2009 MLB First Year Player Draft by the San Francisco Giants and played one season in the organization. In 2009 with Salem-Keizer he was 4-0 with a 3.04 ERA in 23 relief appearances.

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