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Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

September 4, 2006 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


THE HILLCATS...Conclude their 2006 season with the series finale of a three-game set against their Central Virginia rival, the Salem Avalanche...Held on for an 8-6 win in 11 innings last night...Have not trailed at any point in the first two games of this series...Have won 3 straight games and 11 of their last 15 overall...In addition, are 25-20 (.555) in their last 45 games...

THE AVALANCHE...Have lost three straight games for the first time since 7/10-7/13...Had won 14 consecutive games prior to the losing streak...The winning streak ended as the third longest in league history and the longest since Raleigh won 15 straight in 1959...Are playoff bound by virtue of winning the Southern Division second half ...Remarkably, it is their first "half title" since 1988...

TRANSACTIONS: SS Brent Lillibridge (see page 7), RHP Yoann Torrealba (see page 6) and LHP Kyle Bloom (see page 3) have all been received by Double-AAltoona today...The Curve conclude their season today at 6:05 pm by playing host to the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore)...They begin their quest for their first Eastern League crown on Wednesday against the Akron Aeros (Cleveland)...

SEASON FINALES: These two teams are meeting on the final day of the regular season at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium for the 5th consecutive season...The Hillcats have won 3 of the 4 meetings with their only setback coming in 2003...

BROOMS: The Hillcats are seeking their first series sweep of the year today...The team's last sweep occurred 7/22/05-7/24/05 against the Wilmington Blue Rocks at City Stadium (3 games)....

CHASING 100: 1B Steve Pearce has combined for 98 RBIs between Low-A Hickory and Lynchburg ... In addition, he has hit safely in 10 straight games (15-38, .395-2-9)...

YEAR END HONOR: SS Brian Bixler was recently named to the Carolina League honorary year-end all-star team...The former second round selection hit .303-5-33 in 73 games with the Cats...Bixler's .402 on-base percentage and 46 runs scored were both the second highest total in the Carolina League...No other Hillcats were named to the year-end all-star team in the eight-team league...

STRONG FINISH: 2B Dan Schwartzbauer has picked up 37 RBIs in his last 40 games played...He is batting 53-170, .312-1-37 over that stretch...

GOOD COMPANY: SS Brent Lillibridge is one of only 3 minor league baseball players (see graphic below) that has posted a double-digit home run total along with 50 or more RBIs and steals this season...In addition, he has scored a team-best 33 runs in the last 31 games..He has the 5th highest run total in all of minor league baseball (106)...Lastly, he has hit safely in a team-high 11 straight games (18-41, .439-1-13)...

STEALS KING: OF Pedro Powell set a Hillcats single-season record by swiping his 58th base of the season last Tuesday night...He currently leads the Carolina League with 63 steals (79 attempts)...Powell broke the Hillcats record set by current Major Leaguer Rajai Davis in 2004...

TODAY'S OPPONENT: Raymar Diaz, 22, is a 6-7, 190-pound right-hander drafted by Houston in the 47th round of the 2002 draft. The Puerto Rico native began the year in Low-A Lexington and went 8-5 with a 2.36 ERA (99.1 ip, 84 h, 35 r, 26 er, 35 bb, 107 k). He made his professional debut in 2003 and went 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA while pitching with Martinsville (R, Appy). Last year he was selected to play for Puerto Rico in the World Cup held in the Netherlands. While pitching with Tri-City in the New York-Penn League in 2004, he was named the team's Pitcher of the Month in August.

- Diaz has gone 0-0 with a 2.57 ERAin 1 g, 1 gs vs. LYN in 2006 (7.0 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 0 bb, 7 k, .192)

- Hankins has gone 0-2 with a 3.38ERAin 4 g, 4 gs vs. SAL in 2006 (21.1 ip, 25 h, 10 r, 8 er, 5 bb, 15 k, .298)

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