Eddie Prasch never knows when his next at-bat will come. He never knows when he’ll see him name scribbled on the lineup card that’s posted each afternoon in the Hillcats’ clubhouse. It’s not exactly easy for the former third-round draft pick to find and stay in a groove

A 2009 first-round draft pick of the Washington Nationals was dealing heat Tuesday night at City Stadium.

It made no sense.

Since Pedro Alvarez and Miles Durham were promoted to Double-A Altoona nearly a month ago, the task of filling out a lineup card hasn’t been automatic for Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes. It used to be easy. Pencil Alvarez in the three hole, Durham in at No. 5. Plug Jose De Los Santos in at the top of the lineup, Matt Hague in the cleanup spot.

Ninth batter Ciro Rosero broke open a 4-4 tie with a two-run double to cap a four-run sixth inning, helping the Lynchburg Hillcats avoid a sweep with a 7-5 triumph in the fourth and final game of their series against the Potomac Nationals, Thursday night at Pfitzner Stadium.

Despite two home runs from Lastings Milledge, his first in a Lynchburg uniform while on a rehabilitation assignment, the Hillcats lost to Carolina League Northern Division second-half leader Potomac for the third day in a row, 8-4 on Wednesday at Pfitzner Stadium.

Potomac turned four double plays and dealt the Lynchburg Hillcats a 7-3 setback in the series opener, Monday in Woodbridge.

Twelve games into the second half of the Carolina League’s season, only one Hillcat starting pitcher has claimed a victory: Matt McSwain on June 28 at Salem.

R.J. Rodriguez signed on with the San Diego Padres in 2006, but they released him in April after spring training. With the Lynchburg Hillcats’ pitching coach as an ally - not to mention a fastball that hits the low 90s - Rodriguez secured a new gig.

Both Eric Fryer and his roommate in Tampa, Fla., had been involved in trades in 2009. So as the two Tampa Yankee teammates sat around earlier this week, Fryer’s roommate made an interesting comment.

Thursday’s 10-run outburst at Winston-Salem seems like an anomaly for the Hillcats, who have scored four runs or fewer in seven of their nine second-half games.

Potential seems to be a buzzword in the Steel City these days.

With a Carolina League playoff berth already secured, Lynchburg is quickly becoming a breeding ground for experiments.

The Lynchburg Hillcats split a short two-game road trip with a 6-2 loss to the Salem Red Sox on Monday at Lewis-Gale Stadium.

Jordy Mercer hit his eighth home run of the season, Matt McSwain picked up his seventh win and Lynchburg ended Salem’s three-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Sunday.

The ovation Friday was polite, the words encouraging. Still, Jamie Romak wishes he had never heard the calls from the City Stadium crowd as he strolled to he plate for the first time.

The “illness” that plagued Jacob Thompson during his junior year at Virginia wasn’t an illness at all, at least in the traditional sense.

Cole Rohrbough’s season started smoothly enough. The Atlanta farmhand allowed no more than one earned run in any of his first five starts, but May 28 against Winston-Salem, things took a sudden turn for the worse.

As several Hillcats celebrated promotions Sunday afternoon, others sat quietly as the chaos unfolded around them. Players gave Pedro Alvarez, Michael Dubee, Dustin Molleken and Miles Durham congratulatory hugs and handshakes before sitting back down to contemplate what would be next for those who remained in Lynchburg.

By any measure, Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes’ major-league playing career was brief. Twelve games. Seventeen at-bats. Three hits. But what that career lacked in length, it more than made up for in memorable moments.

Though Jeff Locke’s first two starts as a Hillcat have been decent, he’s had one regret — he’s been able to watch the sun set from the dugout.

Last week, when Frederick made its final first-half visit to City Stadium, the Hillcats beat the Keys twice, each game decided by a single run, including one game in which Frederick out-hit Lynchburg 16-5.

For Milver Reyes, the work day starts early. He heads to City Stadium by noon to lift weights and run, well before the rest of the team arrives. At 4 p.m., he suits up and takes batting practice with the rest of the Hillcats. But unless catchers Kris Watts or Joel Collins are injured, Reyes won’t get a single at-bat this season, at least not in Lynchburg.

Joel Collins and Chris Cullen had spent four years playing for Team Ontario, a youth travel club in their home Canadian province, and when the two friends were 17, they figured their days of playing together were over.

Jeff Locke’s season began to unravel in Lynchburg on May 6, when the left-handed pitcher allowed a season-high 11 hits in five innings against the Hillcats.

The Hillcats’ series opener at Wilmington Thursday was postponed due to rain in northern Delaware.

Another quality start from pitcher Matt McSwain and some timely hitting contributed to the Lynchburg Hillcats 6-1 victory over the host Frederick Keys on Tuesday night.

Lynchburg rallied from a three-run deficit Monday in Frederick and beat the Keys 5-3 to keep its five-game lead in the Carolina League North intact.

No need to panic just yet, but that’s two straight subpar performances by the Lynchburg Hillcats’ lineup.

The transition from college baseball to the minor leagues can be a difficult one, especially when a pitcher doesn’t get the luxury of settling into a groove against rookie-ball hitters. That’s been the case for Hillcats starter Justin Wilson, the winning pitcher in the final game of the 2008 College World Series.