CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on September 3, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (36-31, 68-69) @ LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (28-37, 58-77)

Saturday, September 3, 2011, 6:05 p.m. | Lynchburg City Stadium | Lynchburg, VA

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

Game No. 138 | Road Game No. 67 | 2011 Home Record 39-32 | 2011 Road Record 29-37

RHP Cameron Bayne (12-7, 3.41) @ RHP Gary Moran (1-1, 2.53)

Open later than Taco Bell: Multiple delays, two long games, and lots of drama were the primary reasons why last night's doubleheader ended more than seven hours after its prescribed start time. By 1:14 a.m. on Saturday, the Dash and Red Sox were finally finished with their doubleheader, with each team winning one nail biter of a game. In the first contest, which started one hour and 12 minutes late because of rain, Salem grabbed a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning on Heiker Meneses' three-run home run. The Dash tied the game with three two-out runs in the sixth inning, only to see the Red Sox score twice more in the top of the seventh to take a 6-4 lead. Once again, Winston-Salem tied the game with Andy Wilkins' two-run homer and then won it with a two-run walk-off shot of Nick Ciolli's bat to clinch the exciting 8-6 win. In the second game, Salem jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the third inning, only to see the Dash score five runs by the end of the fourth to move on top. The Red Sox rallied for three runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-5 advantage before a 23-minute delay halted play at the stroke of midnight. When the game re-started, Salem's lead held until the bottom of the seventh when the Dash scored a run a loaded the bases with two outs. The Winston rally ended when Daniel Wagner grounded out to Anatanaer Batista to end the game and deliver the Red Sox a 7-6 win to clinch the three-game series victory. The delays totaled one hour and 35 minutes and the games themselves lasted five hours and two minutes.

Sometimes you save the best for last: Last night's crowd of 7,207 was the biggest of the season, topping the 7,143 that saw the Dash and Red Sox on July 3. It was also the second-biggest in the two-year history at BB&T Ballpark, falling just short of the record 7,268 on July 2, 2010. Last night's game helped the Dash set a new attendance record for the second straight season. The final regular season home attendance was 312,416, eclipsing last year's total of 312,313. The average game attendance was 4,663, also higher than last year's mark of 4,593. Both this year's average and total attendance lead all 30 Advanced-A organizations.

And down the stretch they come: Tonight the Dash begin their final series of the regular season with the first of three games at the Lynchburg Hillcats. With last night's doubleheader split and Kinston's 10-0 loss to Frederick, the Dash and Indians are back in a virtual tie for first place in the Southern Division and a playoff berth. Because the teams have not played the same number of games in the second half of the season, the Indians are percentage points ahead Winston-Salem in the division. Kinston has a magic number of four to eliminate Winston from the playoffs, meaning any combination of four Indians wins or Dash losses will deny Winston-Salem a fourth straight trip to the postseason. The Dash will play 70 games in the second half and the K-Tribe will play 69 because of a cancellation. For the Winston-Salem to make the playoffs, the Dash's losses cannot exceed Kinston's. Because the Indians currently have one fewer loss than the Dash, Winston needs the K-Tribe to lose at least one of their four games at Potomac this weekend.

Most Likely to Succeed: On Thursday, Ian Gac was named the Most Valuable Player in the Carolina League, the first time a Winston player has captured the league's highest honor since Leo Daigle won it in 2005. He became the ninth Winston-Salem player to be awarded the MVP/Player of the Year Award in the Carolina League, blowing away opposing hurlers with a monstrous offensive season (see note below). He was also named to the postseason All-Star team as the DH while teammate Andy Wilkins earned the utility infield spot on the team. Both players have been highly valuable to the Dash this season, especially when they go deep. Winston-Salem is 21-9 (.700) when Gac homers and just 47-60 (.439) when he does not. Sixteen of Gac's 33 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. The Dash are 13-6 (.684) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run and have won 13 of the last 15 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

Matching the Jersey Number: Ian Gac smoked his 33rd home run of the season to cap a six-run second inning on Wednesday night 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 with the Rangers organization. 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 three 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. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is tied for second in all of minor league baseball in round-trippers. Gac has 11 more home runs than any other player in the CL and his 93 RBI are six more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (137, the only player in the league that has played every game), tied for first in at bats (505), fourth in batting average (.281), second in hits (142), tied for third in doubles (31), first in slugging percentage (.543), second in extra-base hits (65), first in runs scored (91), first in total bases (274), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/15.30).

Son of a Blanke: Mike Blanke went deep twice Wednesday night for his first career multi-home run game and last night was 1 fo3 with a walk and a run scored to keep his hot stretch of offensive play intact.. The Dash catcher has hit .344 (21 for 61) in his last 18 games with three doubles, five home runs, 11 RBI, and eight runs scored. He has posted an OPS of 1.008 during this stretch (.369 OBP with 24 for 65 reaching base and .639 SLG).

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 ten games, Colligan is batting .323 (10 for 31) with three doubles, two homers, seven RBI, and 11 runs scored. He has 16 walks in his last 17 games and has posted an on-base percentage of .452 (28 times reached base in 62 plate appearances).

‚¬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 Gary Moran (1-1, 2.53) makes his fifth Carolina League start and his second against the Dash. He lost at Winston on August 15, allowing five runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings. In the three starts outside his poor outing against the Dash, he has allowed just one run in 20 innings. He won the league's "Pitcher of the Week" award last month for eight innings of shutout ball against Kinston. 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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Carolina League Stories from September 3, 2011


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