SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) at Hagerstown Suns (Nationals) - July 4, 2014

Published on July 4, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS at HAGERSTOWN SUNS

11-4, 40-42 (Chicago White Sox)

9-6, 53-32 (Washington Nationals)

Friday, July 4, 2014 - 5:05 p.m.

Municipal Stadium - Hagerstown, Md.

2nd Half Game #16 (83 of 137)

LH Jeff McKenzie (1-0, 1.80) vs. LH Brett Mooneyham (0-0, 2.00)

. A Patriotic Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) make their first of three trips to Municipal Stadium during the season's Second Half to take on the Suns (A, Nationals) in a 3-game series. Kannapolis and Hagerstown have split the season-series to this point, 4-4, with the Intimidators taking three of four games in Kannapolis most recently. Today the Intimidators are coming off a loss to Delmarva that ended the team's season-long 8-game winning streak. Kannapolis (11-4) is now tied with Greensboro in second place, 2.0 games behind Hickory (13-2) in the SAL Northern Division Second Half standings.

Stars & Striped Starter: Jeff McKenzie, 23, makes his second start for Kannapolis and fourth of the season. He earned a win in his Class A debut on June 29 against Charleston, allowing a run over 5.0 innings of work. McKenzie made two starts with Advanced Rookie Great Falls to open this season, going 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA before earning a promotion to Kannapolis on June 21. He made his professional debut in 2013, going 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA (4 ER/25 IP) in 16 games, converting all six save chances as the Voyagers closer. The White Sox drafted McKenzie in the 28th round of the June 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Cal State Bakersfield, where he was college teammates with Intimidators 2B Tyler Shryock. McKenzie was named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and became CSU Bakersfield's first All-American baseball player by going 13-2 with a 1.88 ERA (24 ER/114.2 IP), six complete games (four shutouts) and 88 strikeouts in 2013.

Suns Starter: Brett Mooneyham, 24, makes his third start for Suns and his 10th of the season between three classifications. The lefty opened 2014 with High-A Potomac and went 2-4 with a 7.36 ERA in 10 games (seven starts). He pitched twice out of the bullpen for Short-Season Auburn before joining the Suns in late June. Overall, Mooneyham is 2-4 with a 6.24 ERA in 14 games (nine starts) in the Nationals farm system. With Hagerstown, he has allowed two runs on five hits over 9.0 innings in his two games. This is Mooneyham's second stint with Hagerstown, having pitched for the Suns in 2013, including two starts against Kannapolis where he went 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA (4 ER/9 IP). One of those games, an Aug. 1 win at Hagerstown, saw Mooneyham spin 7.0 strong innings to beat Kannapolis, part of a string of six consecutive winning starts for Mooneyham to end his 2013 season. Last year, he was 10-3 with a 1.94 ERA in 17 starts for the Suns. His father Bill reached the big leagues in 1986 with the Athletics. The Nationals selected him out of Stanford in the third round of the June 2012 draft. He went 2-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) with Short-Season Auburn in his pro debut.

About Last Night: The Shorebirds overcame a 4-run deficit to beat Kannapolis, 6-5, on Thursday in front of 3,803 fans at CMC-NorthEast Stadium, ending the Intimidators' 8-game winning streak. Kannapolis built a 4-0 lead before Delmarva rallied for five funs in the fifth inning and never looked back. Robinson Leyer allows singles to four of the first six batters in the fifth inning. Creede Simpson's 1-out RBI-single chased Leyer from the game with Kannapolis still up 4-2. Andrew Mitchell came in with the bases loaded and walked three of the next four batters, pushing three runs across to plate to give the Shorebirds a 5-4 lead. Delmarva tacked on a run in the seventh when Conor Bierfeldt led off with a double then scored on Gregory Lorenzo's 2-out single for a 6-4 lead. The Intimidators threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. With Adam Engel on first and two outs, Danny Hayes drove a Jon Keller offering off the top of the 20-foot tall wall in right field where outfielder Lucas Herbst snagged the ricochet and fired a bullet to second base. Engel scored on the play, but Jaren Breen tagged out Hayes at second base for the game's final out. Leyer (4-5) took the loss, failing to get through at least 5.0 innings for the first time since an April 24 start at Rome. He worked 4 and 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Luis Gonzalez (3-0) earned the win for Delmarva despite a slow start, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits over 5.0 innings. Kannapolis plated four runs in the second inning. Christian Stringer led off with a double and scored on a Delmarva error. Brett Austin stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and roped a bases-clearing double down the left-field line - scoring Trey Michalczewski Danny Hayes and Jacob Morris - for a 4-0 lead.

Streak Snapped: The Intimidators saw their season-long 8-game winning streak come to an end on Thursday against Delmarva. Kannapolis won eight in a row from June 25 through July 2. It was the longest winning streak for Kannapolis since winning nine in a row May 25-June 3, 2012.

Broadcast Information: Tonight's game can be heard through the Hagerstown Suns Baseball Network, accessible online via hagerstownsuns.com. This season, all 70 home games and select road games are broadcast on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network available, including next week's series at Greensboro (July 7-9) at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and on the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his fourth season with the team.

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