NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Intimidators vs. Crawdads - Game Notes - July 26, 2013

July 26, 2013 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) will try to get the offense going against the Crawdads (A, Texas) on Friday after being shutout in Thursday's series opener. Kannapolis has now lost six straight games after winning five in a row from July 13-18. Hickory, which leads the season-series 9-3 over the Intimidators, snapped its own six-game skid with Thursday's 4-0 win. Kannapolis scored 10 runs in its most recent win, a 10-1 victory at Delmarva on July 18, but the Intimidators offense has mustered just nine runs in the six games since. As a team, Kannapolis is batting .162 (23-142) over its last five games.

Sally League Standings: The Intimidators have dropped 8.0 games back of West Virginia (19-12) and Hagerstown (20-13), which are tied for first in the SAL Northern Division. Kannapolis is sixth in the 2nd Half standings while Hickory sits third in the division, 2.5 games back of the first place clubs.

Intimidating Starters: Tony Bucciferro, 23, makes his fifth start and sixth appearance for Kannapolis. The former Michigan State Spartan is coming off his best Class A start, spinning 7.0 strong innings with seven strikeouts, allowing a pair of unearned runs in a hard-luck loss at West Virginia on July 20. This season, Bucciferro is 1-4 with a 3.67 (17 IP/41.2 IP) with 44 strikeouts and two walks between Kannapolis and Advanced Rookie Bristol. He dominated the APPY League, going 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA in three starts. He struck out a career-high nine in his first game of the year with Bristol and equaled that mark on July 12 in 6.0 innings at Elizabethton. He rejoined the Intimidators when Braulio Ortiz was promoted to A-Advanced Winston- Salem July 18. The Sox drafted Bucciferro in the 14th round of the June 2012 draft out of Michigan State where he was a four-year starter for the Spartans.

Hickory's Hurler: Frank Lopez, 19, makes his ninth start of the season and first against the Intimidators. He made his season debut on June 4 with a win against Lakewood and backed it up by beating Hagerstown June 11. Lopez has gone winless in his six starts since, going 0-4 with an ERA of 9.00 (24 ER/24 IP) in the 2nd Half. He is coming off consecutive losses at Lakewood and against Charleston, in which he has allowed 11 runs over his last 6.0 innings, including walking a career- high five walks in his last start July 20 against the RiverDogs. The Rangers signed the Venezuelan and assigned him to the AZL Rangers in 2012, where he went 4-3 with a 5.19 ERA in 14 games (11 starts) with 53 strikeouts in 52 innings last season.

No Soup for You! Kannapolis endured its seventh shutout of the season in Thursday's 4-0 loss to Hickory, marking the second shutout of the Intimidators in their last three games. The West Virginia Power 1-hit Kannapolis en route to a 1-0 win in Game 1 of Tuesday's twin bill. The Intimidators have been shutout four times in the second half. The is the first shutout loss to Hickory since a 6-0 defeat on May 5, 2012, in Kannapolis.

Recchia Rocks: Starting pitcher Mike Recchia rolled through 7.0 scoreless innings for the second time in his last three starts. He has now allowed just one run over his last 21 innings, lowing his ERA to 1.72 on the season. He struck out eight Crawdads on Thursday, matching his career-high for affiliated ball (he also fanned eight against Greensboro on July 13). The White Sox signed Recchia out of the independent Frontier League on June 12, and the Bulldog has posted a 1.72 ERA, the sixth-best ERA in the SAL in that time.

Slumping Stars: First round pick Tim Anderson has gone hitless in three straight games for the first time in his 33-game career. This comes on the heels of a career-best 18-game on-base streak from July 1-21. Keon Barnum, the White Sox supplemental first round pick in the June 2012 draft, is hitless in his last five games, going 0-for-his- last-16 in that span.

Surrendering a Slam: West Virginia's Jonathan Schwind hit a grand slam in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader en route to a 5-1 win over Kannapolis. The slam, allowed by starter Euclides Leyer, was the first given up by an Intimidators arm since Andre Rienzo allowed a bases-loaded home run to Augusta's Luke Anderson on June 27, 2010.

Olacio on the Rise: Left-hander Jefferson Olacio has enjoyed recent success, including five straight quality starts. Since May 26, the No. 30 Prospect in the White Sox system is 3-3 with a 2.40 ERA in 10 games (nine starts), the ninth-best ERA in the SAL in that span.

Intimidating the IL: Former Intimidators starting pitcher Andre Rienzo tossed a 7-inning no hitter on Thursday for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights in the first game of a doubleheader against the Indianapolis Indians (Pirates). Rienzo struck out a new career-high 11 batters in the first no-no for the Knights since Carlos Torres threw a five- inning perfect game on June 18, 2009. Rienzo, the No. 7 Prospect in the White Sox organiation, spent the 2010 season with Kannapolis, going 8-4 with a 3.65 ERA in 20 games (18 starts) for the Intimidators. He is currently 8-6 with a 4.06 ERA in 20 starts and three complete games for the Knights.

Radio Broadcasts: Tonight's game broadcast can be heard at IntimidatorsBaseball.com. All 70 Intimidators home games and select road games are broadcast live with the Voice of the Intimidators, Josh Feldman. Games during the team's upcoming road trip to Hagerstown (Aug. 1-4) and Greenville (Aug. 5-7) will also be broadcast live at IntimidatorsBaseball.com.

Check out the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Statistics

• Discuss this story on the South Atlantic League message board...

South Atlantic League Stories from July 26, 2013


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