SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) vs. Hickory Crawdads (Rangers) -- August 4, 2014

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


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS vs. HICKORY CRAWDADS

52-58, 23-20 (Chicago White Sox) 65-47, 24-19 (Texas Rangers)

Monday Aug, 4 2014 - 7:05 p.m.

CMC-Northeast Stadium - Kannapolis, N.C.

2nd Half Game #44 (111 of 137)

RH Thad Lowry (4-5, 4.57) vs. LH Frank Lopez (3-3, 2.97)

Today's Preview: Coming off a 10-5 victory on Sunday, the Intimidators (A, White Sox) look to carry that momentum into this opening game of a 3-game series with the Crawdads on Monday night. Right hander Thad Lowry makes his third start of the season versus the Crawdads. Hickory counters with Frank Lopez who is also making his third start of the season versus Kannapolis.

Sally League Standings: Kannapolis (23-20) moved to 4.0 games out of first place following a 10-5 win on Sunday vs, Augusta. Hickory (24-19) holds down third place in the Northern Division second half heading into play on Monday.

Intimidators Starter: Thad Lowry, 19, makes his 14th start with the Intimidators of the season. The right-hander is coming off an outing where he went 4.2 IP giving up four earned runs, walking one and striking out four versus Lakewood on July 29. Lowry has been more dominant this season at home, going 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA (7 ER/28.0 IP) in Kannapolis versus, 1-3 with a 6.32 ERA (26 ER/37.0 IP) on the road. In two starts this season versus Hickory, Lowry is 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA. He has thrown 6.2 IP, while walking two and striking out five. Last season with Advanced Rookie Bristol, Lowry went 3-5 with a 5.48 ERA in fifteen games (seven starts) in the Appalachian League. Lowry was drafted in the fifth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft by the White Sox.

Hickory's Hurler: Frank Lopez, 20, makes his 10th start with the Crawdads and his 14th start of the season. In his most recent start, Lopez went 3.0 IP giving up one earned run, walking two and striking out three versus Delmarva on July 29. Lopez like Lowry has been more dominant this season at home compared to the road, going 2-1 with a 1.33 ERA (4 ER/27.0 IP) at home. In comparison he is 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA (8 ER/16.2 IP) away from Hickory. In his two starts this season versus Kannapolis, Lopez is 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA. He has thrown 9.2 IP, while walking two and striking out 11. Earlier this season with AZL Rangers, Lopez went 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA (1 ER/6.0 IP) in four starts. Lopez was signed by the Rangers as a non-drafted free agent on Dec.16, 2010.

About Last Night: Chris Freudenberg kept the GreenJackets offense quiet early as the Intimidators built an insurmountable lead in a 10-5 win over Augusta Sunday evening. Kannapolis scored 10 runs over the first four innings, the team's highest-scoring game since July 8. He starred over 6.0 innings in his Class A debut, limiting Augusta to a run on two hits while striking out three and walking three on his way to a win. Kannapolis manufactured a run in the first inning. Christian Stringer followed a base hit by going on first-to-third on a Trey Michalczewski single then scoring on a Danny Hayes sac-fly for an early 1-0. After Augusta tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the second, the Intimidators jumped in front with four runs in the home half of the inning to chase starter Christian Jones from the game. Carl Thomore and Toby Thomas singled with one out, and Ryan Leonards walked to load the bases. Adam Engel followed with a fielder's choice ground ball to score Thomore. Stringer came through with his second hit, an RBI-single, and two batters later, Hayes ended the day for Jones with a 2-run double down the right field line, putting Kannapolis up 5-1. Jones took the loss, lasting just 1 and 2/3 innings and allowing five runs on six hits. Reliever Brandon Farley also allowed five runs on six hits, working 2 and 1/3 innings of relief before Carlos Diaz quieted the Kannapolis offense over 4.0 innings of work. Zach Fisher and Carl Thomore led off the bottom of the third inning with back-to-back doubles to extend the lead, and Engel added his own RBI-double for a 7-1 lead through three innings. Hayes finished the game 2-3 with 3 RBI, and Stringer enjoyed his fifth 3-hit game of the season, going 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Thomore crossed the plate twice, going 2-4. Augusta's Gabriel Cornier drove in four of the GreenJackets five runs, including a 3-run home run off Brad Salgado in the eighth inning.

Atta-boy, Adam: Centerfielder Adam Engel went 1-5 on Sunday to run his current on-base streak to a career-best 21 straight games since July 11, tied for the 17th-longest streak in the SAL in 2014 and the second-longest by an Intimidators player (Danny Hayes had a 24-game on-base streak April 11 to May 8). During that run, Engel is batting .326 (29-89) with 4 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, and 13 RBI while posting an on-base percentage of .400. Engel ranks fifth in the league with seven triples.

Getting on Base: On Sunday the Intimidators were clogging up the bases vs Augusta. Every Intimidators batter was able to get on base at least once over the course of the game, led by Christian Stringer and Trey Michalczewski who each reached base three times apiece.

High Octane Offense: Kannapolis scored 10 runs over the first four innings on Sunday, the team's highest-scoring games since July 8. That 12 run outburst on July 8 was in a stretch where the team scored 36 runs over the course of 3 games (July 6-July 8) there largest run scoring output of the season.

Pack-ing a Punch: Brett Austin, a former N.C. State catcher whom the White Sox drafted in the fourth round of the June 2014 First-Year Player Draft, is swinging a hot bat right now. In Austin's last 10 games he is hitting .391 (9-23) with one RBI. He has also hit safely in 22 of his 28 professional games.

Game Broadcasts: This season all 70 home games and select road games will be broadcast on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network available at IntimidatorsBaseball.com & on the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his fourth season as the Voice of the Intimidators.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 4, 2014


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