MEDIA INFORMATION Fayetteville Woodpeckers (55-60, 24-22, 2nd, 5.5 GB / Southern) Carolina League Affiliate of the Houston Astros vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (64-49, 21-24, 3rd, 5.0 GB / Northern) Carolina League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals Game No. 115, 46 • Road Game No. 59 • Segra Stadium • Thursday, August 8, 2019 • 7:00 p.m. BLUE ROCKS BREAKDOWN Today’s Starting Pitchers HOME: 30-25 | AWAY: 34-24 STREAK: L1| LAST 5: 1-4 | LAST 10: 4-6 Wilmington: LHP Kris Bubic A LONG NIGHT IN FAYETTEVILLE: A nine-run eighth in- ning by the Fayetteville Woodpeckers turned a semi-close contest Fayetteville: RHP J.P. France into a laugher as they beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks, 13-5, on Wednesday at Segra Stadium. The Blue Crew did avoid their most Today’s Starter for the Blue Crew lopsided loss of the season with a three-run ninth inning, but fell for The Kansas City Royals had four picks in the the fourth time in their last five games. first 40 selections of the 2018 Draft. Kansas TOP OF THE STANDINGS TO YOU: Wilmington has sat atop the City used each of those choices on college Carolina League North overall standings for most of the 2019 sea- pitchers and all have spent time on the Blue son—114 of the campaign’s first 124 days. The Rocks have not been out of first place in the overall ledger since April 26. The only team Rocks roster in 2019. Kris Bubic completed with a better record than the Rocks is the Down East Wood Ducks. the quarter when he was promoted to Wilm- ington from Low-A on May 21. The lefty ROAD WARRIORS: Wilmington has exceled on the road this sea- played his college ball at Stanford where son. The Rocks are 34-24 away from the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium, which is the second-best road record in the Carolina League. he was a Third Team All American in 2018, One of the reasons for Wilmington’s success in away games has been its finishing the season 8-1 with a 2.62 ERA in ability to hit for power. The Blue Crew have hit 40 of their 49 homers 86.0 innings. He held opponents to a .199 bat- this season outside of the First State. ting average and struck out a team-high 101. KILLING IT IN CLOSE CONTESTS: The Blue Crew contin- Bubic’s amateur career also featured a 2017 ue to get it done in close games this season. The Rocks lead the Cape Cod League Pitcher of the Year Award. Carolina League with 47 games decided by a single score in 2019 His resume earned him a $1.59 million sign- and have played 65 affairs with a margin of victory of two-or-less. Wilmington is an impressive 43-20 in those close calls including ing bonus. Bubic entered the season as the 34-13 in one-run decisions. Royals’ No. 9 prospect according to MLB. com. Bubic appeared in the All-Star Future’s CROOKED EIGHTH: Fayetteville established new season- highs for runs scored in an inning an overall on Wednesday. The Game in Cleveland this season. 13 tallies were one more than Frederick had managed on May 1, while the nine-run eighth was three better than any other op- ponent had managed in 2019. Frederick and Carolina had each 2019 Regular-Season Series: WIL vs. FAY posted six-run frames against the Rocks. Rocks reliever Walker Sheller allowed five of the nine runs in the penultimate frame. The righty yielded three hits and walked three. Robert Garcia replaced him with one out in the frame and surrendered four more runs on four hits and a walk. Overall, Fayetteville sent 13 bat- WIL Leads Series 7-6 ters to the plate as Ross Adolph, Chandler Taylor, Scott Manaea, Miguelangel Sierra, David Hensley, Scott Schreiber and Michael Date Site Result Papierski all produced run-scoring hits during the crooked frame. 5/29 Fayetteville W, 4-3 THEY’RE RUBBER YOU’RE GLUE: The loss set up a rubber match on Thursday, which is an area where the first-half champs have 5/30 Fayetteville L, 5-2 struggled in 2019. Wilmington has just one win in eight tries this season in series-deciding affairs. The contest will also be the last this 5/31 Fayetteville W, 5-3 season between the Rocks and Fayetteville. It will mark the fifth con- cluded season-series for the Blue Crew--Winston-Salem, Frederick, 6/1 Fayetteville L, 2-1 Potomac and Carolina are the others. 6/6 Wilmington L, 8-1 NO-NO: For the first time in 19 years a Blue Rocks pitcher threw a no- hitter. In fact, Jonathan Bowlan was a second-inning defensive miscue 6/7 Wilmington W, 2-0 away from tossing a perfect game in the Blue Crew’s 3-0 victory over the Carolina Mudcats on July 15 at Frawley Stadium. The right-hander 6/8 Wilmington W, 4-3 (10) allowed just six balls to escape the infield all night. He did almost walk the first batter of the game, but ended up striking out Brice Turang 6/9 Wilmington W, 5-3 on a full-count pitch. Bowlan did the same thing to Turang to end the game. The 22-year-old Memphis, TN native finished his night with 7/30 Wilmington L, 6-0 nine strikeouts and threw 98 total pitches, 63 of which went for strikes. 7/31 Wilmington L, 1-0 BACK IN THE POSTSEASON: Wilmington clinched its first post- season berth since 2015 with its first-half CL North championship. That 8/1 Wilmington W, 3-2 year Wilmington won the first half with a 38-32 record. The Rocks won 44 games in 2019 and finished 19 games above .500 in the first half. The 8/6 Fayetteville W, 4-1 (10) Blue Crew clinched their 2019 crown on June 8. The 2015 Blue Crew eventually reached the Mills Cup Championship Series by sweeping 8/7 Fayetteville L, 13-5 Lynchburg in the Northern Division Championship Series. Wilmington 8/8 Fayetteville is in search of its first Carolina League crown since 1999. Upcoming Probable Starters and Schedule Friday, August 9 at Myrtle Beach 7:05 p.m. LHP Marcelo Martinez vs. RHP Jeffrey Passantino 89.7 WGLS-FM Saturday, August 10 at Myrtle Beach 6:05 p.m. LHP Austin Cox vs. LHP Ryan Kellogg 89.7 WGLS-FM Sunday, August 11 at Myrtle Beach 6:05 p.m. LHP Rito Lugo vs. RHP Alexander Vargas 89.7 WGLS-FM RADIO: Rowan Radio, 89.7 WGLS-FM WEBCAST: wgls.rowan.edu or bluerocks.com Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes MEDIA INFORMATION CONTINUED HOME RUN NOTES Blue Rocks vs. the Carolina League Blue Rocks 2-HR GAMES BY BLUE ROCKS (2 IN 2018 ) Opponent Record Home Road 4.14.19 Seuly Matias at CAR (Solo HR & 2-R HR) 7.18.19 Blake Perkins at WS (solo HRs) Frederick 10-6 6-2 4-4 3-HR GAMES BY BLUE ROCKS (HAS NEVER HAPPENED) Lynchburg 7-3 2-2 6-1 Potomac 10-11 5-6 5-5 BACK-TO-BACK HOME RUNS (1 IN 2018) 7.17.2019 Brewer Hicklen and Dennicher Carrasco at Winston-Salem Salem 7-9 3-5 4-5 Northern Div. 34-28 15-14 19-15 LEADOFF HOME RUNS (1 IN 2018) 7.10.18 Nick Heath at FRE (Off big-league rehabber Chris Tillman) Opponent Record Home Road GRAND SLAM HOME RUNS 2 (3 IN 2018) 6.3.2019 MJ Melendez at MB Carolina 9-3 4-0 5-3 6.15.2019 Brewer Hicklen at LYN Down East 2-5 1-3 1-2 WALK-OFF HOME RUNS (0 IN 2018) Fayetteville 7-6 4-2 3-3 7.12.19 MJ Melendez vs. Salem Myrtle Beach 6-1 3-1 3-0 PINCH-HIT HOME RUNS (1 IN BOTH 2018) Winston-Salem 7-5 3-3 4-2 LAST TIME: 5.16.15 Dex Kjerstad at LYN Southern Div. 31-19 15-9 15-9 INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUNS (2 IN 2018) LAST TIME: 8.19.18 @ W-S Oliver Nunez (4th inning, solo HR) Runners Left On Base BLUE ROCKS HOME RUNS: 47 (63 IN 2018 / 23 HOME & 40 AWAY) Blue Rocks: 606 Opponents: 677 Carolina 10 Lynchburg 4 Down East 1 Myrtle Beach 2 Numbers With RISP Fayetteville 5 Potomac 8 Blue Rocks: .217 Avg. (189-for-873) Frederick 9 Salem 4 Winston-Salem 8 Blue Rocks On... Mondays: 5-4 April: 15-11 FRAWLEY 9 ROAD 40 Tuesdays: 10-6 May: 19-9 Wednesdays: 4-10 June: 16-10 Opponents Thursdays: 8-7 July: 13-14 2-HR GAMES BY OPPONENT (4 IN 2018) 7.6.2019 Jackson Reetz at Pfitzner Stadium Fridays: 11-6 Aug: 2-3 Saturdays: 13-9 Sept: 0-0 3-HR GAMES BY OPPONENT (1 IN 2018) LAST TIME: Michael Chavis (SAL) 4.19.17 at Hayley Toyota Sundays: 9-5 First Game of Series: 19-15 BACK-TO-BACK HOME RUNS (0 IN 2017/0 IN 2016) LAST TIME 8.10.18 Jared Young & Andruw Monasterio off Nolan Waston at MB Last Game of Series: 19-14 Series Won: 16 BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK (0 IN 2018) Series Lost: 10 LEADOFF HOME RUNS (1 IN 2017) LAST TIME: 7.3.18 Luis Gonzalez (W-S) off Gerson Garabito at Wilmington Series Split: 7 Series Swept: 5 GRAND SLAM HOME RUNS (3 IN 2018) 6.30.2019 Trevor Craport’s (FRE) off Austin Cox (5-3 Loss) Rubber Matches: 1-7 7.2.2019 Brian Mejia (POT) off Marcelo Martinez (10-4 loss) 2019 Roster (41) WALK-OFF HOME RUNS (1 IN 2018) LAST TIME: 8.19.18 Yermin Merceds at Frederick Pitchers (21) Catchers (3) Kyle Isbel Andrew Beckwith MJ Melendez Rudy Martin PINCH-HIT HOME RUNS (0 IN 2018) Jonathan Bowlan Sebastian Rivero Seuly Matias Holden Capps Stephan Vidal Blake Perkins INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUNS (0 IN 2018) J.C.