Farmers Only Featured Farmhand: Dave Sappelt

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• Dave Sappelt was drafted in the 9th round last year out of Coastal Carolina.  He was big in talent, despite playing in a weaker conference, but he was the Big South Player of the Year and a 3rd team All-American.  Possessing power and speed, the fact that he fell to the 9th round is still a mystery.
• In his senior year, he batted .349/.415/.636 with 18 HR and 70 RBI. 
  
• He then went to Billings, where he hit .299/.354/.496 with 7 HR in 62 games.  Very solid for a his pro debut.
• He started this season at Dayton, where he batted .269/.322/.392 and stole 26 bases.  He's been the anchor of a weak Dayton lineup, batting leadoff and playing CF most of the time.
• Recently he was promoted to Sarasota (with the addition of Josh Fellhauer to Dayton), and caught fire there.  In his first 5 games, he's batting .350/.391/.500 with 1 HR, 3 RBI, and 3 SB.

• Louisville lost a pitchers' duel against Toledo 2-1.  Kevin Barker continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-4 with a solo HR.  Ramon Ramirez pitched a good game, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings of work.  Unfortunately, no run support.  Up next: Ben Jukich tries to build off of his great outing last time at 7.
• Lee Tabor came up big time as Carolina blanked Tennessee 6-0.  Filling in the decimated rotation, Tabor gave up only 4 hits in 6 innings.  Canadian sensation Phil Valiquette and Ramon Geronimo closed out the shutout.  El Nino Destructor went 2-for-3 with a homer.  Up next: The Mudcats have the day off.
• After leading 1-0 going into the 9th, Sarasota lost a tough one 2-1 to Charlotte in 12 innings.  Scott Carroll continued his dominance on the mound, going 6 innings of shutout ball.  Denis Phipps, Jason Bour, and Shane Carlson all had two hits each as well.  Up next: Jeremy Horst takes on Fort Myers at 7:05.
• Dayton lost to West Michigan 5-4.  Enrique Rojas had three hits and drove in three runs, and Tony Brown added two doubles.  Up next: The Dragons take on Clinton at 8, with Matt Fairel likely to start.
• Despite their best efforts, Billings held onto an early lead to beat Orem 8-7.  Alexis Oliveras was the star for the offense, going 3-for-5 with a HR.  Sean Conner and Mariekson Gregorius added two hits each.  Tim Crabbe and Bryan Gardner combined for 5 innings of a solid start, before the bullpen gave up 6 runs in the final 4 innings to make it close.  Up next: Justin Walker takes on Orem at 9:05.
• The GCL Reds beat the GCL Rays in 8 innings, 3-1.  Billy Hamilton had two hits to lead the way, and on a rehab start from Sarasota, Alex Buchholz went 1-for-4 in the DH spot.  Good to see.  Tzu-Kai Chiu had a good start, going 5 innings and giving up 1 unearned run, and Nathan Driessen and Raul Rodriguez closed out the game with three scoreless.  It looks like they were supposed to get a second game in, but it didn't happen.  Up next: They take on the GCL Orioles at noon, with Blair Carson likely to start.
• Roster Moves: The Reds appear to have signed RHP Kip Wells and assigned him to AAA Louisville.  He was 0-2 with a  6.29 ERA in 23 relief appearances in Washington.