NYMEO Field · 21 Stadium Drive · Frederick, MD 21703

Friday, September 8, 2017 · NDCS Game 2 (Best-of-Three) (Keys Lead 1–0)

Frederick Keys (68–71/37–33) vs. Lynchburg Hillcats (87–52/47–23)

LHP Brian Gonzalez (5–7, 4.91) vs. RHP Triston McKenzie (12–6, 3.46)

RING WALK-OFF GIVES KEYS 1–0 LEAD: Jake Ring hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Frederick Keys to a 10–9 come-from-behind victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats in game one of the Northern Division Championship Series. With the victory, the Keys are one game away from being declared Carolina League co-champions. Down 9–6 entering the ninth, the Keys managed four runs against Argenis Angulo and Adam Plutko. An RBI single by Glynn Davis made it a 9–7 affair, while Armando Araiza walked to load up the bases. Frederick brought on Jay Gonzalez to pinch run and the Hillcats called on Plutko. The move did not pay off, as Jomar Reyes hit a sac-fly to cap off a nine-pitch at-bat and Randolph Gassaway added an RBI infield single to level the game. That sent up Ring, who roped a single to right to score Gonzalez and give Frederick the walk-off win.

AN IMPROBABLE WIN: The Keys battled past a variety of obstacles, some self-induced, to win game one of the NDCS. To begin, the orange and black battled back from a four-run deficit entering the bottom of the eighth. This stemmed from Frederick allowing five unearned runs in the eighth and the team tying a season-high with four errors. Frederick scored the last five markers of the game, but still posted just their second victory all season when trailing after eight innings (1–52). The orange and black scored 10 runs against Aaron Civale (5R/4ER) and Argenis Angulo (5R). The former was named the Carolina League Player of the Month for August and the latter surrendered a career-high five runs. Additionally, Adam Plutko, a member of the Indians 40-man roster (and a pitcher who made his MLB debut last year) was tagged with a blown save.

MILLS CUP PLAYOFFS CANCELLED: One day after it was announced the Keys and Hillcats would shift to a best-of-three format, the Carolina League announced on Friday morning that the Mills Cup Championship Series has been cancelled. This means that the winner of the NDCS will be co-champions along with the winner of the SDCS. In CL history this also occurred in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd forced an evacuation of Myrtle Beach during the Mills Cup Finals. That year the Pelicans and Wilmington Blue Rocks were named co-champions. The following two games of the Northern Division Championship Series will be played in Lynchburg with game two on Friday and game three (if necessary) on Saturday. At least one co-champion will be crowned on Friday, as Down East and Myrtle Beach will play games two and three at TicketReturn.com Field. The Wood Ducks lead the SDCS 1–0.

WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON: The 68 wins by the Keys equals the team’s 2016 total, while the 37 second-half wins were the most by Frederick in a half since the second-half of the 2011 season when the club went 39–31. The orange and black enter the postseason winners of six of their last seven games and eight of their final nine home games. Offensively, the Keys paced the Carolina League in hitting (.266) and home runs (126) and placed third in runs scored (633) and RBIs (571). On the mound, the orange and black finished last with a 4.41 ERA.

POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Keys are making their 11th playoff appearance in franchise history (with Mills Cup titles coming in 1990, 2005, 2007 and 2011). In the playoffs, Frederick’s all-time record is 23–23. The last time the Keys made the playoffs (2011) the club defeated the Potomac Nationals in a best-of-five Northern Division Championship Series, before taking three of four from the Kinston Indians to win the Mills Cup. Frederick and Lynchburg have met in the playoffs on three prior occasions, with the Hillcats winning two of the three sets (Frederick is 3–4 against Lynchburg in the playoffs).

PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Frederick Keys have a number of players who are red hot heading into the postseason. Outfielder Glynn Davis recorded nine RBIs in his last nine regular season games and 18 in his last 31 contests overall. The Maryland native is also the only active Frederick player to have been part of the 2011 Mills Cup title team (which included Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop). Jomar Reyes ended the season on a nine-game hitting streak (.343, 2HR, 7RBI) and recorded an RBI in each of his last five tilts. On the mound, Mike Burke did not allow an earned run since July 30 spanning 19.1 innings).

LYNCHBURG OVERVIEW: This season, the Keys finished with a .500 record or better at home against every team in the CL except the Lynchburg Hillcats. The Keys went 5–14 against Lynchburg this year, the worst head-to-head mark Frederick had against any Carolina League club. Ending the year on a seven-game winning streak, Lynchburg easily finished with the top overall record in the league (87–52) and won both halves in the CL North. Buies Creek (74) was the next-closest team in terms of wins. Against the Keys, Lynchburg pitching turned in a 3.46 ERA and registered a quality outing in 13 of the 19 contests. Ka’ai Tom led the way with a .315 average, while Sam Haggerty stole 12 bases in 14 games (14 attempts).

HOW THE HILLCATS DID IT: The top pitching staff in the CL, the Hillcats finished the year with a sterling 3.21 ERA, and had two of the top three ERA men in the circuit (Brock Hartson, 3.06, 1st) (Triston McKenzie, 3.46, 3rd). McKenzie was also named CL Pitcher of the Year. Offensively, Willi Castro ended the year fourth in hitting (.290) and second in hits (136), Sam Haggerty paced the league with 49 stolen bases, 11 more than the next-closest player and Sicnarf Loopstok finished tied for second in extra-base hits (49).

WHEN THINGS GET TIGHT: Since the beginning of August, the Keys have been excellent in games decided by two runs or less. Dating back to August 8, Frederick has gone 13–3 in games hinging on two or fewer runs (including game one of the NDCS), while the orange and black have claimed nine of the last 11 games of this variety. In the regular season, the Keys went 19–15 in one-run tilts (third in the CL) and 18–15 in two-run games (second CL).

TODAY’S OPPOSING STARTER:

Triston McKenzie makes his 26th overall start on Friday and his fifth against the Keys this season (2–2, 7.32 ERA, 4G). He is the №3 prospect in the Indians system according to Baseball America. Named the Carolina League’s Pitcher of the Year, the right-hander led the circuit in strikeouts (186, by 40) and wins (12) while ranking third in ERA (3.46) and fourth in innings pitched (143-career-high). McKenzie’s most recent outing came last Thursday against Potomac. Picking up the win, he allowed one run on five hits in seven innings. This year, 12 of McKenzie’s 25 outings were quality starts and he went seven innings eight times. The two worst outings of the year for McKenzie came against the Keys, surrendering seven runs on June 18 and July 26 (at City Stadium). In his other two outings against Frederick, he went seven innings and allowed one run with 13 strikeouts (June 8) and six innings of one-run baseball on June 24 (both of those outings were wins). Only 20 years old. A first round pick by the Indian in 2015 out of Royal Palm Beach High School, the right-hander has been compared to Dwight Gooden. A member of the 1983 Lynchburg Mets (that won the CL title) Gooden was the league’s pitcher of the year and won the Triple Crown.