Sports stats



CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

August 25, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (31-28, 63-66) @ SALEM RED SOX (26-33, 57-71)

Thursday, August 25, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | LewisGale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark | Salem, VA

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

Game No. 130 | Road Game No. 66 | 2011 Home Record 35-29 | 2011 Road Record 28-37

RHP Jake Petricka (3-7, 4.25) @ LHP Chris Hernandez (10-6, 2.52)

Serafin USA: Joe Serafin was the stopper that Winston-Salem needed last night, turning in an impressive performance en route to shutting down the Red Sox in 3-0 victory. Serafin scattered five singles over seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks to pick up his fifth win of the season and, more importantly, stop the bleeding against Salem (see fourth note). His team-leading 12th quality start of the season was bolstered by solo home runs from Kyle Colligan (fifth inning) and Mike Blanke (seventh), while the victory was preserved thanks to two scoreless innings from Ryan Kussmaul.

Sox Appeal: Wednesday night marked another terrific outing for Joe Serafin against the Salem Red Sox. Last night the lefty lasted a season-high-tying seven innings and also tied season-highs with seven strikeouts and no walks. Serafin owns a 3.65 ERA against the Red Sox in 24.2 innings this season and has had quality starts in three of his four outings against Salem. In those games, he has an ERA of 1.42, allowing three runs on 14 hits in 19 innings.

Ridin' Solo: The players who homered last night are no strangers to solo home runs. Kyle Colligan's solo shot to open the fifth was his seventh home run of the season, and all of them have come with no runners on base. He has hit 23 career home runs over three professional seasons and 17 of those dingers have been solo homers. Mike Blanke hit a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning and all five of his Dash home runs have been solo homers, as has one of his two South Atlantic League long balls earlier this season. Nine of Blanke's 14 career home runs over the last two years have driven in just one run.

Eight is Enough: Last night's win snapped the Dash's eight-game losing streak to the Red Sox. Winston has not beaten Salem since July 2 at BB&T Ballpark and had been outscored 54-27 during the skid. The losing streak was the second-longest in the series history between the teams. The only streak that exceeded this season's eight-gamer was a ten-game losing streak by the Winston-Salem Warthogs against the then-Astros affiliated Salem Avalanche between August 8, 2006 and May 9, 2007. The Dash have still dropped ten of their last 13 against the Red Sox and Salem leads the season series 10-6.

The Tribe has not spoken: Despite losing ten of their last 14 games, the Dash are still right in the thick of the race for the Southern Division's second half playoff spot. Winston-Salem picked up a game in the standings on Kinston last night, which lost to Frederick 6-2 last night. The Dash now trail in the division by 0.5 games with 11 games remaining. The Indians' remaining schedule shows one game at Frederick followed by a seven-game home stand with three games against Lynchburg and four more against the Keys. The K-Tribe finishes up the season with three games at Potomac. Winston-Salem plays one more game at Salem, four at home against Myrtle Beach and three more home games against the Red Sox before finishing up the season with a three-game series at Lynchburg. The combined second half winning percentage of Kinston's remaining opponents is .543 (95-80) while the Dash's remaining opponents have a .457 (80-95) winning percentage. When weighted with the number of games left against each opponent, the difficulty of Kinston's schedule is even more daunting, with the Indians' opponents' winning percentage at .543 and Winston's at .456.

Behind Enemy Lines: The broadcast of tonight's Dash-Red Sox game will have a unique twist: The Winston-Salem and Salem broadcasts will join forces for a simulcast of the game. The "Voice of the Dash," Alex Vispoli, will broadcast the game alongside the "Voice of the Red Sox," Evan Lepler and the two will take turns calling the action and providing color commentary to give fans on both sides of the North Carolina-Virginia border greater insight into the opposition. The pre-game show for the simulcast will begin at 6:45 tonight with first pitch at 7:05.

Bring Sally Up: Yesterday Dash shortstop Tyler Saladino was named the Carolina League "Player of the Week" for his performance from August 15 - 21. This is first time he has earned an award like this in his professional career. The honor was well-earned, as Saladino led all minor leaguers in batting average at .630 (17 for 27), was first in triples (3), and tied for second in extra-base hits (8). He went 0 for 4 with a walk last night to snap a season-best eight-game hit streak, but in his last eight games, Saladino is 19 for 34 (.559) with five doubles, four triples, a home run, seven RBI, and seven runs scored. The San Diegan has raised his batting average 32 points from .234 to .266.

G-Man: Ian Gac hit his 32nd home run of the season on Sunday to snap a tie game in the third inning. The home run also tied his career-high for a season, which he previously set in 2008 with low-A Clinton and Advanced-A Bakersfield (Texas Rangers). Sixteen of his 32 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is second in all of minor league baseball (the Iowa Cubs' Bryan LaHair has 36). Gac has 12 more home runs than any other player in the CL and his 88 RBI are nine more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (128, the only player in the league that has played every game), first in at bats (474), ninth in batting average (.273), third in hits (130), tied for fifth in doubles (29), first in slugging percentage (.535), second in extra-base hits (61), first in runs scored (85), first in total bases (255), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.91). He is on pace to hit 35 home runs this season, which would tie the Winston-Salem record (Ed Olivares set the current record of 35 home runs in 1960 for the Winston-Salem RedBirds) and also would be the most in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Gac has 159 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 21-8 in games Gac hits a home run, good for a .724 winning percentage. The Dash are just 42-58 (.420) 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 Rat: Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He pitched two scoreless innings last night to earn his sixth save in as many chances. He has allowed four runs (two earned) on ten hits in his last 21 appearances, sporting a 0.59 ERA (2 ER, 30.2 IP) with a .118 batting average against (12 for 102) and 55 strikeouts (seven walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.15 strikeouts per nine innings, nearly two more full K's than second-place Eliecer Cardenas (11.89). He is second among all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (87) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (55.1). He is also second among CL relievers with a .165 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.62).

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Chris Hernandez (10-6, 2.52) makes 24th start of the season and third against the Dash. He is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts against Winston-Salem, allowing just two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and four walks. A Carolina League All-Star, Hernandez has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all but two of his starts this season. During a seven-start stretch from early July to early August, he did not allow any more than one earned run and posted a 0.98 ERA. Hernandez was drafted in the seventh round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Red Sox and made one appearance for Rookie Lowell. For the Spinners, he threw two innings and gave up one run on three hits. He previously pitched at the University of Miami for three years and compiled a 28-8 record in his time with the Hurricanes. Hernandez was the 2008 ACC Freshman of the Year after garnering a Miami freshman-best 11 wins. That season he was also named First Team All-ACC, an accomplishment that he matched in 2010 before getting drafted. In his last season with Miami he went 10-3 with a 2.64 ERA. His repertoire includes a four-seam fastball that sits 88-89 mph and a cutter that he can throw 83-85. He also throws a changeup and curveball.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...

Carolina League Stories from August 25, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Winston-Salem Dash Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central