May 18 - Mudcats Game Notes

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DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS (TEX) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MIL)
Thursday, May 18, 2017 | 11:00 AM 
Game 40, Home Game 27 
at Five County Stadium (6,500)
RADIO: -
STREAMING AUDIO: www.carolinamudcats.com, TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv
Overall Record: CAR: 20-19; DE: 15-24
Streaks: CAR: W2; DE: L2
Last 10 Games: CAR: 8-2, DE: 2-8    
Home Record: CAR: 13-13; DE: 8-16
Road Record: CAR: 7-6; DE: 7-8
Division Record: CAR: 9-7; DE: 8-11    
Current Series: CAR leads 2-1 (of 4)
Season Series: Tied 3-3 (of 21)
CAR vs. OPP: 3-3 @CAR (21), 0-0 @OPP (7) 

UPCOMING PROBABLES:
THU, 5/18, 11:00 AM: Down East RHP Emerson Martinez (0-3, 5.00) at Carolina RHP Cody Ponce (3-3, 3.48)
FRI, 5/19, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Freddy Peralta (0-1, 3.00) at Winston-Salem RHP Dane Dunning (1-0, 4.76)
SAT, 5/20, 6:30 PM: Carolina RHP Conor Harber (1-3, 3.19) at Winston-Salem RHP Aron McRee (0-5, 3.66)
ICYMI: Troy Stokes Jr. had a RBI triple, Lucas Erceg hit a two-run home run, Corey Ray had a three-run triple and Kodi Medeiros struck out six over five and 2/3 as the Mudcats survived a late rally while holding on for a 7-5 home win versus the Wood Ducks at Five County Stadium on Wednesday night.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Mudcats improved to 20-19 on the season and moved a game above .500 for the first time since 4/18 when they were 6-5… The Mudcats had totaled only three triples all season before collecting two on Wednesday night… Corey Ray had one of Carolina's two triples last night and was 1-for-3 with three RBIs for the Mudcats. Ray has now driven in eight runs over his last four games.
STARTING OFF: The Mudcats have Cody Ponce on the mound for the finale start versus Down East this morning at Five County Stadium. Ponce enters today's game at 3-3 with a 3.48 ERA and only five walks against 33 strikeouts this season. He is currently tied for 3rd in the Carolina League in innings pitched (44.0) and is 2nd in lowest BB-IBB/9 IP ratio (1.02). Ponce last pitched on 5/13 against the Dash and worked through a career high 8.0 innings with only one run allowed on seven hits. He also struck out seven and did not issue a walk while pitching to a 72 game score his last time out.
FRAME BY FRAME: The Mudcats set a franchise record for runs scored in the first inning with nine in Tuesday night's 11-2 win home versus the Wood Ducks. Carolina had scored just nine combined runs in the first all season (first 37 games) before plating nine in the first that night. The Mudcats have been outscored 30-18 and are batting a combined .199/.286/.316 (18 R, 27 H) in the first this season. They have also outscored opponents 23-9 in the second inning and 128-112 between the fourth and ninth innings this season. The Mudcats have been outscored 72-55 over the first three innings of games this season.
THE STREAK: Jake Gatewood was 0-for-4 on Monday night and snapped a 23-game hitting streak. The streak was the longest of Gatewood's career and matched the Carolina Mudcats franchise record for consecutive games with a hit, tying Bryson Myles of the 2013 Mudcats (7/15/13-8/11/13). Gatewood hit .372/.443/.628 (32-for-86) with 18 runs, 10 doubles, four home runs, 14 RBIs, 11 walks and a 1.071 OPS during the streak. The streak was the longest in MiLB this season (excluding Mike Tauchman's (AAA, ABQ) 28 game hit streak which began on 8/12/16 and ended on 4/9/17).
ALL OVER THE TOP 10: Jake Gatewood is currently 4th in the Carolina League in average (.329), 3rd in OBP (.415), 7th in SLG (.538), 6th in OPS (.953), 2nd in runs scored (30), 3rd in hits (47), tied for 1st in doubles (15), 3rd in extra-base hits (20), tied for 5th in home runs (5) and tied for 7th in walks (21).
HOME SWEET HOME: The Mudcats have played a CL high 26 home games in 2017. They are currently 13-13 at home and still have 12 home games remaining on their first half schedule. A total of 27 of Carolina's first 40 games were scheduled to be played at Five County Stadium to start the season. The Mudcats have played at home 26 times in the last 35 days.
WHERE THEY RANK: Isan Diaz is currently tied for 8th in the Carolina League in hits (40), tied for 7th in extra-base hits (16) and 3rd in home runs (7)… Corbin Burnes leads the Carolina League in ERA (1.15) and is 3rd in WHIP (0.98). Burnes is also tied for 3rd in innings pitched (47.0), 3rd among starters in average against (.196) and 2nd in fewest baserunners allowed/9ip ratio (8.81)… Cody Ponce is tied for 3rd in the CL in innings pitched (44.0) and is 2nd in the league in lowest BB-IBB/9ip ratio (1.02)… Luis Aviles is tied for the CL lead in steals (12)… Troy Stokes Jr. is 2nd in the CL in steals (11)… Trent Clark is currently 3rd in the CL in walks (25).
FURTHER RANKINGS: Corey Ray has the 9th highest K% (29.3%) among qualified Carolina League hitters this season… Jake Gatewood has the 2nd highest BABIP (.436) among qualified Carolina League hitters this season… Lucas Erceg has the 3rd lowest BABIP (.239) among qualified Carolina League hitters. Erceg is also 9th in fly ball percentage (46.4%)… Troy Stokes Jr. has the 10th highest fly ball percentage (46.1%) among qualified Carolina League hitters. 
OF LATE: Lucas Erceg is batting .161/.223/.299 over his last 21 games (14-for-87, 14 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 16 SO)... Isan Diaz is batting .316/.391/.621 since 4/22 and over his last 25 games (30-for-95, 16 R, 8 2B, 7 HR, 22 RBI, 13 BB, 24 SO)... Trent Clark started the season batting .180/.333/.311 over his first 19 games (11-for-61, 8 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 15 BB) before going 5-for-6 with 3 RBI on 4/30 in Frederick. Clark is now batting .306/.403/.387 over his last 17 games since 4/30 (19-for-62, 16 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 10 BB).
PROSPECTS GALORE: The Mudcats currently have 10 players ranked on MLB.com's list of top 30 Brewers prospects; 4 of which ranking in the Brewers top 10. The plethora of top rated Brewers prospects with Carolina include outfielder Corey Ray, infielder Isan Diaz, outfielder Trent Clark and third baseman Lucas Erceg. Ray is currently ranked as the 2nd best prospect in the Brewers system by MLB.com, followed by Diaz (5), Clark (6) and Erceg (7). Each of which are also ranked in the top 10 among Brewers prospects according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. Also ranking among MLB.com's top 30 Brewers prospects are pitchers Marcos Diplan (11), Cody Ponce (15), Kodi Medeiros (18), Freddy Peralta (19), Corbin Burnes (20) and infielder Jake Gatewood (25).