SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) vs. Asheville Tourists (Rockies) - July 11, 2014

Published on July 11, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS vs. ASHEVILLE TOURISTS

14-8, 43-46 (Chicago White Sox) 16-6, 57-34 (Colorado Rockies)

Friday, July 11, 2014 - 7:05 p.m.

CMC-NorthEast Stadium - Kannapolis, N.C.

2nd Half Game #23 (90 of 137)

LH Andre Wheeler (1-2, 3.60) vs. RH Alex Balog (6-3, 3.79)

Today's Preview:The Intimidators (A, White Sox) return to the field in the wake of consecutive shut out losses when they face the Tourists (A, Rockies) in Game 2 of this 4-game series. Kannapolis fell into a 3-way tie for second in the SAL Northern Division second half standings, a half-game behind the first place Greensboro Grasshoppers. Kannapolis send left-hander Andre Wheeler to the mound against the Tourists' Alex Balog. Asheville has won four of five games against Kannapolis so far this season.

Intimidating Starter: Andre Wheeler, 22, makes his 10th start and 20th appearance when he faces the Tourists for the second time this season. He took no decision in Asheville on June 8, allowing three runs on five hits over 4.0 innings. Wheeler earned a win in his most recent start, tossing 5.0 innings against Delmarva, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits on July 1. He is 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA (18 ER/39.2 IP) in nine starts compared to 0-0 with a 1.96 ERA (4 ER/18.1 IP) in nine relief appearances. 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 Kannapolis. The White Sox selected Wheeler in the 15th round of last June's draft, and he pitched nine games with Bristol before joining Kannapolis in late July 2013.

Twirling Tourist: Alex Balog, who turns 22 next week, makes his 18th start of the season and second against the Intimidators. The right-hander ranks second in the SAL with 102.0 IP this season, including 7.0 innings against Kannapolis in a no decision on June 7, allowing five runs on 11 hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Balog has won his last four decisions, including three straight wins to open the second half. He has been much better on the road than at home, going 4-1 with a 1.68 ERA in eight road starts compared to 2-2 with a 5.70 ERA in nine starts at McCormick Field. The Rockies selected Balog in the second round (70th overall) of the June 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of San Francisco. A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Balog made his professional debut last year with Advanced Rookie Grand Junction, going 1-4 with 9.30 ERA in the Pioneer League.

About Last Night: Asheville shut out Kannapolis 1-0 in a pitcher's duel on Thursday. James Dykstra struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed just one hit - an infield single - over the first seven scoreless innings of work before getting into trouble in the eighth. Dykstra (6-8) suffered the loss, allowing one run on four hits and no walks in 7 and 1/3 innings of work. Asheville strung together three hits with one out in the eighth inning. Jordan Patterson singled, moved to second on a Jose Briceno base hit, and scored on Max White's bloop-single to left field for a 1-0 lead and the game's only run. Tourists starter Antonio Senzatela tossed 7.0 scoreless innings of his own and struck out a season-high nine batters, the most by an Asheville pitcher this season. Senzatela (10-1) held Kannapolis to one hit and one walk while earning his league-lead-tying 10th win of the season. Troy Neiman tossed the final 2.0 innings for the save (2). In the ninth, Ryan Leonards - who recorded the Intimidators only hit in the third inning - reached base on a strikeout-wild pitch, but Adam Engel grounded into a game-ending double play.

Dominant Dykstra: James Dykstra struck out a career-high 10 batters Thursday night against Asheville, surpassing his previous career-high of nine against Hickory on April 15. Dykstra matched Jake Sanchez for the most strikeouts by an Intimidators pitcher in a game this season. Sanchez fanned 10 against the Rome Braves on April 25 in his first start of the season. Dykstra has now worked into the seventh inning in his last six starts. He ranks fourth in the SAL in ERA (2.64) and innings pitched (99.0), and fifth in WHIP (1.12). Among starters, he leads the league with the lowest walks/9 IP ratio (0.91), having issued just 10 walks in 99 innings of work this season. He walked one batters over his last four starts (28.2 IP).

Off Offense: Kannapolis was shut out in consecutive games for the first time since the first two games of the 2009 season when the Intimidators suffered two shutout losses to Rome on April 9 in both games of a doubleheader (4-0 in Game 1 and 1-0 in Game 2). Kannapolis suffered a 3-0 loss against the Grasshoppers on Wednesday in Greensboro and a 1-0 loss to Asheville on Thursday. The back-to-back shutout losses came on the heels of the Intimidators scoring 12 runs in three straight preceding games.

One-Hit Wonders: Asheville's Antonio Senzatela (7 IP) and reliever Troy Neiman (2 IP) held Kannapolis to a season-low one hit on Thursday, the first time that the Intimidators have been one-hit since losing the first game of a July 23, 2013, doubleheader at West Virginia when Tyler Glasnow and Jhondaniel Medina combined for beat Kannapolis. The 1-hit loss on Thursday comes after Kannapolis was held to a then-season-low two hits on Wednesday at Greensboro.

Austin's Streak Snapped: Brett Austin, the White Sox fourth round pick in the June 2014 First-Year Player Draft, went 0-3 on Thursday, ending his career-long hitting streak after 10 game (June 24-July 8), batting .333 (12-36) with nine RBI in that span. It was the third 10-game hitting streak by an Intimidator this season and first since Trey Michalczewski's 17-game streak (May 27-June 14).

Broadcast: This season, all 70 home games and select road games are broadcast on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network available at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and on the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his fourth season with the team.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 11, 2014


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