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Volstad looks to keep Marlins rolling in opener against Braves

Jul 21, 2008 - 1:44 PM Atlanta (46-52) at Florida (52-46) 7:10 pm EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) -- While the Florida Marlins have been one of baseball's biggest surprises this season, rookie Chris Volstad has been just as impressive in his brief major league career.

Volstad will take the mound for the Marlins as they take on the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a three-game series on Monday at Dolphin Stadium.

The 16th overall pick in the 2005 draft, Volstad (2-0, 0.84 ERA) tossed 8 2/3 brilliant innings on July 11 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing a run and five hits in his first major league start. The righthander also tossed two scoreless innings of relief on July 6 against the Colorado Rockies to earn his first career victory.

Once Mark Hendrickson was demoted to the bullpen, the 21-year-old was inserted into the starting rotation.

The Braves, who are coming off a frustrating series loss against the Washington Nationals, will count on Jorge Campillo (4-4, 3.06) to get them back on track.

The Nationals scored six runs or more in three consecutive games for the first time this season against the Braves on their way to taking two of the three games of the set.

Campillo is a strong candidate to get Atlanta in the winning column again, since the righthander has allowed three runs or less in seven of his last 10 starts.

The 29-year-old faced Florida twice this season, both as a starter and reliever. On June 3, he surrendered four runs and six hits in four innings. He also tossed two scoreless innings of relief on April 24 - a month prior to being promoted to the rotation.

Hanley Ramirez was 1-for-11 in the Marlins' series win against the Philadelphia Phillies. The shortstop is batting .308 with 23 homers and 23 stolen bases this season.