SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) vs. Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies) - July 21, 2014 (1

Published on July 21, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS vs. LAKEWOOD BLUECLAWS

46-52, 17-14 (Chicago White Sox) 38-62, 11-20 (Philadelphia Phillies)

Monday, July 21, 2014 - 12:05 p.m.

CMC-NorthEast Stadium - Kannapolis, N.C.

2nd Half Game #32 (99 of 137)

RH Brandon Brennan (0-0, 1.50) vs. LH Yoel Mecias (1-0, 0.00)

Today's Preview:The Intimidators (A, White Sox) play for a third straight win and a series victory over the BlueClaws (A, Phillies) in a 12:05 p.m. game at CMC-NorthEast Stadium. Kannapolis welcomes back Brandon Brennan to CMC-NorthEast Stadium as he makes his first start in Kannapolis since a injury cut short his 2013 campaign. Also fresh into a return to the South Atlantic League, Lakewood's Yoel Mecias - a BlueClaws starter for the first half of last season - makes his second start since rejoining the club.

Sally League Standings: Kannapolis (17-14) has won three of its last four games to take sole possession in third place, 4.0 games back of first place Greensboro (21-10) in the Northern Division Second Half.

Intimidators Starter: Brandon Brennan, who turns 23 later this week, makes his second start for the Intimidators since rejoining the team from Great Falls on July 15. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native tossed 6.0 innings of 1-hit ball in his return to the South Atlantic League in a no decision at Augusta on July 16. An elbow injury ended Brennan's 2013 season after 15 starts with Kannapolis in which he went 4-9 with a 5.53 ERA (50 ER/81.1 IP), however, the progress Brennan made during the season spoke for itself. After opening the season 1-8 with a 7.88 ERA (42 ER/ 48 IP) in 10 starts over April and May, the Orange Coast College standout went 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA (8 ER/33.1 IP) in five starts in June. This year, he went 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA in five starts for Great Falls. The White Sox selected Brennan in the fourth round of the June 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Orange Coast where he was 11-1 with a 1.25 ERA.

BlueClaw on the Bump:Yoel Mecias, 20, makes his second start since returning to Lakewood and his sixth of the season after returning to the mound with the GCL Phillies in late June. Mecias, who pitched for the BlueClaws to open the 2013 campaign, made four starts in the GCL this season, going 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA before returning to the Sally League with 5.0 scoreless innings in a road win at Hickory on July 15. Last year with Lakewood, Mecias went 4-3 with a 3.79 ERA with one save in one opportunity over 13 games (11 starts). He struck out 70 batters over 57.0 IP before seeing his season end after at June 22 start at West Virginia. This is Mecias' first appearance against Kannapolis.

Last Time Out:Brad Salgado retired the final 10 batters of the game as Kannapolis beat Lakewood, 7-6, on Sunday. Salgado (2-0) took over with two outs in the sixth inning and tossed 3 and 1/3 perfect frames to finish the game, striking out two batters, to earn the win. Kannapolis, which twice came from behind to tie the game, eventually pulled ahead in the seventh inning on Danny Hayes' 100th hit of the season, a dribbler in front of home plate that allowed Adam Engel to score the tying run, 6-6. Jacob Morris followed with an RBI-groundout to cash Christian Stringer for a 7-6 lead. Kannapolis scored two runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to batter the BlueClaws. Lakewood led 3-1 entering the bottom of the fifth when Nolan Earley led off the frame with a triple. Earley scored on a Ryan Leonards grounder, and Leonards later scored on a Stringer grounder to tie the game, 3-3. After Lakewood took a 6-3 lead with three more runs off Jeff McKenzie in the top of the sixth, who allowed six runs on 12 hits over 5 and 2/3 innings in a no decision. Earley, who finished 3-4 and a home run shy of the cycle, added a 2-run double in the sixth to pull Kannapolis within a run. Lakewood reliever Joey DeNato (1-1) took the loss, allowing an inherited runner to score in the seventh before giving up his own run. He tossed 2.0 innings, allowing a run on four hits.

Electric Engel: Adam Engel extended his hitting streak to a season-best nine games by going 2-5 Sunday with two runs scored. He is now batting .375 (15-40) in his last nine games since July 11. On Saturday, Engel recorded a season-high 4 hits on Saturday, tying his career-high. He was 4-5 with a double, triple, RBI and three runs scored. Engel has stolen bases in consecutive games and leads Kannapolis with 24.

Turn of the Century: Danny Hayes went 2-4 on Sunday for his 99th and 100th hits of the season to raise his team-leading average to .302 (100-331) and on-base percentage to .403, which ranks fifth in the SAL. Hayes leads the circuit with 55 walks. The White Sox 13th round pick in the June 2013 draft, Hayes is just the 11th Sally Leaguer to reach the 100-hit plateau this season.

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

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