SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) at Asheville Tourists (Rockies) - June 8, 2014

Published on June 8, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS at ASHEVILLE TOURISTS

28-32 (Chicago White Sox)

36-25 (Colorado Rockies)

Sunday, June 8, 2014 - 2:05 p.m.

McCormick Field - Asheville, N.C.

Game #61 (of 138)

LH Andre Wheeler (0-2, 3.05) vs. RH Konner Wade (4-6, 4.55)

. Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) play for a series split today in Asheville after going the distance on Saturday night in a 13-inning loss to the Tourists (A, Rockies). Kannapolis sends spot-starter Andre Wheeler to the mound for the lefty's second straight start while the Tourists counter with right-hander Konner Wade. First pitch of today's game is at 2:05 p.m. to wrap up this 7-game road trip. The team returns to Kannapolis on Monday to start a 7-game home stand to wrap up the first half.

Intimidating Starter: Andre Wheeler, 22, will make his seventh start of the season and just his second on the road when he faces the Tourists in today's series finale. He is coming off a no decision in a spot-start against Hagerstown in the second game of a May 31 doubleheader. In his only other road start of 2014, he worked 5.0 strong innings at Hagerstown, allowing one run and striking out a career-high six in a no decision on May 11. Wheeler, a former Texas Tech Red Raiders reliever, is 0-2 with a 3.81 ERA (11 ER/26 IP) in six starts compared to 0-0 with a 1.76 ERA (3 ER/15.1 IP) in seven games relief. After going 0-2 with a 4.58 ERA in April in seven games (three starts), Wheeler made tremendous strides in May, posting a 1.66 ERA (4 ER/21.2 IP) in six games (three starts) for the Intimidators. The White Sox selected Wheeler in the 15th round of last June's draft, and he made nine appearances with Advanced Rookie Bristol before joining Kannapolis in late July 2013.

Twirling Tourist: Konner Wade, 22, makes his 12th start of the season and fourth at home today. He is coming off a hard-luck loss at Savannah, allowing two unearned runs over 5.2 innings on June 3. Prior to that, Wade struck out a season-high seven over 7.0 innings, allowing one run, to beat Charleston on May 29. While he has had his rough outings, including not getting out of the second inning against Rome on May 13, Wade has also had some great outings, including six quality starts this season. He is tied for third in the SAL with nine home runs allowed. The Rockies drafted Wade in the seventh round of the June 2013 draft out of Arizona, where he went 19-9 with a 3.92 ERA in three years with the WildCats. He made his pro debut in 2013, going 3-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 14 starts for SS Tri-City (NWL).

About Last Night: The Intimidators battled into the 13th inning before Asheville's Raimel Tapia hit a 2-run walk-off home run to power the Tourists to a 7-5 win on Saturday. Tapia finished the night 5-for-7 with four RBI to give the Tourists. Kannapolis built a 4-0 lead thru three innings before Asheville came back to pull within a run, 5-4, in the ninth inning when Emerson Jimenez scored the game-tying run on an Ashley Graeter sac-bunt. Danny Hayes helped Kannapolis build an early lead, coming through with RBI-singles in the first and third innings. He finished the game 3-for-5 to pace an Intimidators offense that collected 13 hits. Matt Carasiti pitched the 11th, 12th, and 13th innings of scoreless relief for Asheville. Carasiti (2-1) struck seven while allowing one hit over 3.0 innings to earn the win. Tourists starter Alex Balog also fanned seven batters as Kannapolis struck out a season-high 18 times on the night.Alex Powers (0-1) took the loss, keeping the Tourists off the board in the 11th and 12th innings before giving up Tapia's game-winning blast with two outs in the 13th. Starter Jake Sanchez tossed 5.0 innings, allowing two runs and scattering nine hits while striking out five.

Ski Streaks: Trey Michalczewski went 1-6 on Saturday to extend his career-long hitting streak to 11 games, batting .385 (15-39) since May 27, the longest hitting streak of the season for an Intimidators player. Michalczewski is on a 13-game on-base streak, closing in on his career-long streak of 15 games with Advanced Rookie Bristol in 2013.

Extra! Extra!: Kannapolis is now 2-6 in extra-inning games this season, including 1-5 on the road. The Intimidators have now dropped five games this season in walk-off fashion.

The Final Countdown: Kannapolis is now 4-9 in games decided in the final at-bats, losing consecutive games to the Tourists Friday and Saturday after Asheville plated the go-ahead runs in its final at-bats.

Hot-Hitting Hayes: Danny Hayes collected three hits on Saturday, his fifth 3-hit game of the season and his first since a three-hit night on June 2 against West Virginia. He finished the night 3-5 with two RBI and a walk, giving him 35 base on balls this season, tied for the second-most in the SAL.

Heartbreaker: Kannapolis was 17-0 this season when leading after eight innings until Saturday's loss to Asheville. The Intimidators led 5-4 going into the ninth when the Tourists plated the tying run on a sac-bunt by Ashley Graeter to score Emerson Jimenez before eventually falling in the 13th.

The Bounty Hunter: Hunter Jones went 2-5 with two runs scored on Saturday, continuing his recent string of success at the plate. He has reached base safely in 12 straight games since May 26, including an 8-game hitting streak from May 26 to June 2. He hit two home runs in Thursday's series opener in Asheville, the first multi-home run game for a Kannapolis batter this season.

Broadcast: Today's game in Asheville will be broadcast live on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network with Voice of the Intimidators Josh Feldman, who will call all 70 home games and select road games during the 2014 season. Pregame show starts at 1:50 p.m. with first pitch at 2:05 p.m.

Check out the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from June 8, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central