SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) vs. Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles) - July 1, 2014

Published on July 1, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS vs. DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS

9-3, 38-41 (Chicago White Sox)

6-6, 44-37 (Baltimore Orioles)

Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - 7:05 p.m.

CMC-NorthEast Stadium - Kannapolis, N.C.

2nd Half Game #13 (80 of 137)

LH Andre Wheeler (0-2, 3.57) vs. LH Mitch Horacek (4-6, 2.99)

Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) ride a six-game winning streak into this 3-game series against the Shorebirds (A, Orioles) on Tuesday. Kannapolis, which equaled its longest winning streak of the season by completing a sweep of Charleston on Monday, sends left-hander Andre Wheeler to the mound for his second start against the Shorebirds. The Intimidators (9-3) have pulled ahead of both Hagerstown and West Virginia in the SAL Northern Division and are alone in second place behind Hickory (10-2) in the Second Half standings.

Intimidating Insight : Andre Wheeler, 22, makes his ninth start and 18th appearance when he faces the Shorebirds for the fifth time in his career. Against Delmarva, he is 0-0 with a 0.69 ERA (1 ER/13 IP) with 13 strikeouts and two walks over four games (one start). The left-hander is coming off 2.0 scoreless relief innings in which he fanned five batters on June 26 at Hickory. In his most recent start on June 21, Wheeler fanned a career-high eight batters over 4.2 frames. He is 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA (17 ER/34.2 IP) in eight 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.

Bird on the Bump: Mitch Horacek, 22, makes his 15th start of the season when he faces Kannapolis for the second time this season. The Intimidators tagged Horacek with a hard-luck loss on May 14 as he gave up three runs (one earned) on eight hits over 6.0 innings while striking out a season-high nine. He is coming off consecutive no-decisions. Horacek dominated during the month of May, going 3-3 with a 1.60 ERA in six starts. He has continued to wrack up high strikeout totals, fanning six or more batters in his last five starts. His 82 strikeouts this season ranks fifth in the South Atlantic League. The Orioles drafted Horacek in the ninth round of the June 2013 draft out of Dartmouth College. In his professional debut in 2013, he went 5-4 with a 2.78 ERA in 12 games (11 starts).

About Last Night: The Intimidators completed a series sweep of Charleston with a 4-2 win on Monday. Kannapolis starter James Dykstra worked a career-high 7.2 innings, striking out eight and walking none to earn his third straight win. Offensively, Trey Michalczewski paced Kannapolis, going 2-4 with 2 RBI and his second inside-the-park home run (7) of the season. RiverDogs starter Chaz Hebert suffered the loss, giving up three unearned runs thanks to three Charleston errors over 4.0 innings.

Dykstra Dealin': Starter James Dykstra recorded his eighth quality start of the season on Monday with 7.2 innings of work, the longest outing by an Intimidators pitcher this season. Dykstra struck out eight batters while walking none, and he now leads the league in walks/9-IP ratio at 0.96 (9 walks/84.2 IP). In his last four outings, he has walked one over 28.2 innings.

Inside The Park HR: Trey Michalczewski hit his second inside-the-park home run of the season and his team-leading seventh round-tripper on Monday against Charleston. Michalczewski previously hit an inside-the-park home run on April 6 against Greenville, his first of the season. The 19-year-old third baseman is batting .291 with seven home runs and a team-high 50 RBI this season in 78 games, tied for the third-most games played in the league this season.

Engel's In The Outfield: Adam Engel has been activated off the Disabled List. The centerfielder finished his rehab assignment with the Rookie level AZL White Sox, batting .364 (12-33) with a home run and three RBI in eight games. Prior to landing on the DL on May 19, Engel hit .234 (36-154) with a home run and 12 RBI in 38 games with Kannapolis. At the time, he led the SAL with 17 stolen bases. In a corresponding move, the Intimidators have transferred Hunter Jones to Adv. Rookie Great Falls.

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.

Independence Day Fireworks: Thursday, July 3, Intimidators face the Delmarva Shorebirds to wrap up this 7-game home stand followed by fireworks presented by the City of Kannapolis and Centralina Orthopaedics. On Friday, July 4, fans are invited back to CMC-NorthEast Stadium for our All-American Community Celebration & Fireworks presented by the City of Kannapolis. Independence Day festivities include inflatables for the kids, a dunk tank, an apple pie baking contest, a little league game, a patriot parade for kids, and the best fireworks show of the year.

Check out the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Statistics

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



South Atlantic League Stories from July 1, 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