CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on September 1, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (35-30, 67-68) vs. SALEM RED SOX (29-36, 60-74)

Thursday, September 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

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

Game No. 136 | Home Game No. 69 | 2011 Home Record 38-31 | 2011 Road Record 29-37

RHP Ryan Buch (4-4, 4.70) vs. RHP Ryan Pressly (6-11, 4.58)

Dirty Dozen: Just about the only positive to come out of last night's 16-10 loss to the Salem Red Sox was that everyone in the park won a dozen free donuts from Krispy Kreme because the Dash eclipsed the 12-hit mark. Other than that, it was one for the dogs as Winston-Salem could not hold an early six-run lead and got thumped by the Red Sox. Tied at one heading to the second inning, the Dash scored six runs off Stolmy Pimentel in the second to take a 7-1 lead. Salem immediately responded with five runs in the third against Jake Petricka to cut the advantage to a single tally. That lasted until the fifth, when the Red Sox got a bases loaded, bases clearing double off Zach Gentile's bat to make it 9-7 Salem. The Red Sox four more times in the next inning and eventually ran their lead to 16-8 before Mike Blanke homered in the ninth to cut the gap to six. The loss drew Winston-Salem back into a tie for first place with Kinston, setting the stage for a dramatic conclusion to the regular season (see second note).

It's the Final Countdown: Tonight the Dash play the middle game of their final home series of the regular season against the Salem Red Sox. After losing last night and the Indians winning 1-0 over Frederick, Winston-Salem and Kinston are now in a virtual tie for first place, with the K-Tribe percentage points ahead of the Dash. Winston has one more win than the Indians, who have one fewer loss than the Dash by virtue of having played two fewer games. The Dash have five games remaining in the regular season (two against Salem and three at Lynchburg) while the Indians have six to play (two at home against Frederick and four on the road versus Potomac). In order to make the playoffs, Winston needs Kinston lose at least one game and proceed to match or exceed the Indians win total over the remainder of the season. The schedule would appear to favor the Dash, as the combined second half winning percentage of Kinston's remaining opponents is .574 (74-55) while the Dash's remaining opponents have a .445 (57-71) winning percentage.

Getting Poor Marks: It was a rough night to be 60 feet, six inches from home plate on Wednesday, but especially so for Winston's hurlers. The Dash set a new season-high, allowing 16 runs to score and they tied high water marks for the season with 19 hits allowed and six hits surrendered in the third inning. In the previous nine games, Winston had allowed 18 total runs before giving up 16 alone last night. The bullpen's run of 21.2 innings without allowing an earned run ended when the Red Sox scored three times off Leroy Hunt in the fifth. Salem's performance last night was historic, as its 16 runs tied the most Salem has ever scored in a game at Winston-Salem, matching the Salem Buccaneers' 16-2 victory over the Spirits at Ernie Shore Field on June 25, 1987. Salem also tied the most hits it has ever had in Winston with 19 (the Buccaneers had 19 hits twice in 1991 at Winston-Salem).

Son of a Blanke: Mike Blanke went deep twice last night for his first career multi-home run game. Blanke gave the Dash a 2-1 lead with his solo home run to start the second inning and narrowed the final margin to six with his two-run blast in the ninth. Prior to that second home run, all of six of his previous Carolina League dingers were solo shots. Last night's game continued a strong stretch of play offensively for the Canadian-born Floridian. The Dash catcher has hit .345 (20 for 58) in his last 17 games with three doubles, five home runs, 11 RBI, and seven runs scored. He has posted an OPS of 1.016 during this stretch (.361 OBP with 22 for 61 reaching base and .655 SLG).

Matching the Jersey Number: A bit lost in the big night for both offenses was that Ian Gac smoked his 33rd home run of the season to cap a six-run second inning for Winston-Salem. The blast, the 160th of his pro career, set a new single-season career-high for the slugger, surpassing the 32 home runs he hit in 2008 for Bakersfield (Rangers Cal League). Gac has now hit more home runs in a Carolina League season than any player since 1997 when Kinston's Daniel Peoples hit 34. If he hits two more home runs in the remaining five games, he will tie the Winston-Salem record (Joe Olivares hit 35 in 1960) and have hit the most homers in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Sixteen of Gac's 33 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is tied for second in all of minor league baseball in round-trippers. Gac has 12 more home runs than any other player in the CL and his 93 RBI are nine more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (135, the only player in the league that has played every game), first in at bats (500), sixth in batting average (.280), second in hits (140), tied for fourth in doubles (30), first in slugging percentage (.542), second in extra-base hits (64), first in runs scored (90), first in total bases (271), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/15.15).

Winning Formula: Last night bucked the odds when it comes to the outcome of a game during which Ian Gac homers. The Dash fell to 21-9 in games Gac hits a home run, a .700 winning percentage. The Dash are just 46-59 (.438) when Gac does not homer. The Dash are 12-6 (.667) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run and have won 12 of the last 14 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

The Hit Doctor is on-Coll once again: Kyle Colligan has recently shown signs of life lately after a mostly difficult 2011 season. Over his last eight games, Colligan is batting .346 (9 for 26) with three doubles, one homer, five RBI, and nine runs scored. He has 14 walks in his last 15 games and has posted an on-base percentage of .455 (25 times reached base in 55 plate appearances).

Home Field Advantage: A crowd of 5,872 took in Sunday's 8-2 victory over the Pelicans at BB&T Ballpark, the second-biggest Sunday crowd in two seasons at the home of the Dash. It was the 21st sellout of the season, two more than last year's total of 19. Over the three-game weekend series, the Dash drew 19,863 fans (average crowd of 6,621), the highest three-day attendance total in BB&T Ballpark history. Winston-Salem leads the Carolina League and all Advanced-A baseball teams in both total and average attendance for the second straight season. The 2011 total attendance is 305,209 through 66 home openings for an average crowd of 4,624. Last year the Dash set a franchise record with a total attendance of 312,313 and the team is currently on pace to exceed that mark this season.

‚¬ËœMaul Rat: Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He pitched another scoreless inning on Sunday night to finish off the Pelicans. He has allowed four runs (two earned) on ten hits in his last 22 appearances, sporting a 0.57 ERA (2 ER, 31.2 IP) with a .113 batting average against (12 for 106) and 56 strikeouts (seven walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.06 strikeouts per nine innings, more than two full K's than second-place Eliecer Cardenas (11.96). He is second among all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (88) despite only ranking eighth among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (56.1). He is also second among CL relievers with a .162 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.47).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Ryan Pressly (6-11, 4.58) makes his 26th start of the season for the Red Sox and third against the Dash this season. He is 1-1 against Winston-Salem with a 2.61 ERA, allowing eight runs (three earned) on ten hits in 10.1 innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Pressly has lost his last two outings, surrendering 12 runs in ten innings in back-to-back starts against Wilmington. He has not gotten the win in his last six starts, marking the fifth time this season he has gone at least five starts without getting a win. Pressly was originally drafted in the 11th round of the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Marcus High School in Texas. He spent his first two years in the organization in short-season ball with the GCL Red Sox and then the Lowell Spinners. In 2010, he made 26 appearances (24 starts) for low-A Greenville and went 5-7 with a 3.72 ERA. With the drive, he held opponents to three runs or fewer in 22 of his 24 starts and was seventh among Red Sox minor leaguers in ERA.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from September 1, 2011


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