SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Four-run fourth gives Kannapolis win over Greensboro

Published on August 4, 2018 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


After two-straight rainouts against the Grasshoppers (53-54, 19-19) on Thursday and Friday, the Intimidators got the best of Greensboro in the first game of the three-game shortened series, using a four-run fourth inning to win 5-2 Saturday night at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.

The Intimidators jumped on the board early in the first inning thanks to a Luis Curbelo one-out double to center field, putting himself in scoring position for Craig Dedelow. As he has done all season long, Dedelow cranked his 27th double of the 2018 campaign into center field, giving the I's and RHP Spencer Moran a 1-0 lead.

After working 3.2 innings of no-hit baseball against the Grasshoppers, Moran allowed his first hit to Greensboro's Will Allen, which loaded the bases after a couple walks in the inning. But, with bases chucked full of 'Hoppers, the right-handed pitcher out of Des Moines, Iowa, got Harrison Dinicola to line out to Dedelow in left field to end the threat.

In the fifth, Greensboro got the best of Moran, as Gunnar Schubert singled, followed by a Thomas Jones double down the left field line, scoring Schubert to tie the game, 1-1. Next up, Christopher Torres singled on an 0-2 pitch into center, bringing in Jones to help his team take a 2-1 lead after five innings of play in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

Two innings later, in the seventh, Curbelo led off the inning against the new Greensboro pitcher, Gabriel Castellanos (L, 1-2), with an infield hit to short. Former Oklahoma Sooner, Steele Walker, then took a 1-2 pitch right off the dome, putting runners at first and second with no outs. With Dedelow at the plate, Castellanos tossed a wild pitch to the backstop, moving each runner into scoring position. On the second pitch of his at-bat, Dedelow broke his bat on a groundout to first base, giving enough time for Curbelo to score from third.

With just one out and Walker at third base, Tyler Frost bunted a ball right back to Castallanos, who then barehanded and pitched to Allen at the plate to try and tag the diving Walker. With odds not in his favor and Allen taking up a good bit of the plate, Walker snuck in the left hand on the dive to give the Intimidators a 3-2 advantage, leading to an argument from Greensboro's skipper, Todd Pratt.

After a mound visit, Michael Hickman singled on a soft line drive to left field on a 3-2 pitch, creating a bases loaded scenario for Johan Cruz. Batting over .300 the past 10 games, Cruz singled on a line drive into right-center field, scoring both Blackman and Frost to increase the Kannapolis lead to three runs, 5-2.

Jhoan Quijada (W, 1-3) got the first call out of the bullpen for Kannapolis after 4.1 innings of work for Moran, as Quijada allowed just two hits in 2.2 innings on the bump, giving the ball over to Bennett Sousa (S, 1) in the eighth and ninth frames. In those last two innings, Sousa struck out three batters and allowed only one hit, lowering his already stellar Earned Run Average to a 1.08 ERA.

The Kannapolis Intimidators (61-45, 22-17) will send RHP Zach Lewis (2-3, 3.23 ERA) to the bump in the first game of the double header starting at 1:05 p.m. against the Grasshoppers at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 4, 2018


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