Game #34 Preview — Dash at Myrtle Beach
Game #34 — Road Game #17
Winston-Salem Dash (12–21) at Myrtle Beach Pelicans (16–15)
Thursday, May 12–7:05 p.m.
TicketReturn.Com Field (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
GAME BACKGROUND:
Behind another sterling outing from right-hander Matt Cooper, Winston-Salem upended Myrtle Beach 5–1 in Wednesday’s middle match from TicketReturn.Com Field. The Dash look to win their fourth consecutive road series on Thursday.
STARTING LINEUP:
Louie Lechich capped the scoring in Winston-Salem’s 5–1 win on Wednesday at Myrtle Beach with a two-run single in the eighth (Jody Stewart/ W-S Dash).
Adam Engel — CF
Hunter Jones — RF
Gerson Montilla — 3B
Keon Barnum — 1B
Marcus Davis — DH
Mason Robbins — LF
Toby Thomas — 2B
Sean O’Connell — C
Cleuluis Rondon — SS
Thad Lowry — RHP
Get Winston-Salem Dash’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
DASH DOTS:
- With his career high-tying nine strikeouts during Wednesday’s win, Cooper became the third Minor League hurler to reach 50 strikeouts on the season. He is one punchout shy of the top spot in the Minors, which currently belongs to the duo of Jon Perrin (Brewers) and Lucas Sims (Braves). Both of those hurlers, who have 51 whiffs, have pitched for two different teams in their respective systems. The former University of Hawaii star has accumulated at least five strikeouts in every outing. Before 2016, Cooper was exclusively a reliever as a professional.
- Behind Cooper, Jacob Morris continued his outstanding start to 2016 with a pair of hitless frames out of the bullpen. Since joining the Dash on April 16, the converted outfielder has allowed just three hits and whiffed 11 in seven relief efforts spanning 12.2 scoreless innings.
- The top-of-the-order duo of Adam Engel and Hunter Jones have been instrumental to the Dash’s offensive attack in this series. Engel, who is back with the club after some early-season struggles in Double-A Birmingham, has posted consecutive two-hit games to start his High-A work for 2016. He and Jones, who is a .316 (12-for-38) swinger this month and has hit safely in five straight, amassed an RBI on Wednesday.
- While Winston-Salem is off to its worst home start in BB&T Ballpark’s seven-season history (3–14), the club has continued to shine while away from the Triad. The Dash moved to 9–7 on the road with Wednesday’s victory, and they have a chance to claim their fourth road series win in a row. The last time Winston accomplished that feat was from July 27 to August 18 of 2012, the year the club posted the best overall record in full-season Minor League Baseball (87–51–1).
- On Wednesday, Winston-Salem snapped a five-game losing streak against the Pelicans. These two teams have played 40 times since the start of 2015, and the two teams each had 17 wins before the Pelicans rattled off that five-game surge. Not only did the Dash stop that trend, but they ended a streak of 14 consecutive meetings between the two clubs that were decided by three runs or less. The Dash return to Myrtle Beach next Tuesday through Thursday for the final first-half duel between these Southern Division rivals.
- Between trips to the Grand Strand, the Dash will entertain the Potomac Nationals during a wrap-around four-game series inside BB&T Ballpark. Friday marks the first of 18 duels between the purple-clad Dash and the Red, White and Blue defenders of Woodbridge, Va. The P-Nats have claimed the season series between the two clubs in back-to-back seasons after Winston-Salem did not lose a season set to the Nationals from 2008–13. This included a 10–0 record for the Dash against Potomac in the Triad in 2012.
- Infielder Cleuluis Rondon snapped an 0-for-19 slump at the High-A level with a third-inning single Wednesday.
- Thad Lowry recorded his first High-A quality start and victory in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader against Salem (6.0 IP/2 R).
- Winston-Salem is a perfect 5–0 in road games when its hurler tosses a quality start.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Thursday’s game will be broadcast live on 600 AM-WSJS in the Winston-Salem area, as is the case with every Thursday game throughout the season. The game is also available on wsjs.com, as well as wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn App. The Pregame Dash will begin at 6:50 p.m, with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m.
-Joe
