Kannapolis Drops Early-Inning Slugfest to Augusta, 6-5
April 17, 2018 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release
KANNAPOLIS,NC - In the second game of the three-game series against the Greenjackets, the Intimidators dropped a close one, 6-5, despite only allowing five hits to the Augusta offense Tuesday night at SRP Park.
After leaving two runners stranded in the top of the first, the Intimidators trotted out Lincoln Henzman (L, 0-2), who dug the I's into a one-run deficit after issuing a one-out walk to Shane Matheny. Later in the inning with Matheny at second base after an error from Laz Rivera at short, Jean Angomas singled on a ground ball to center field, scoring Matheny and giving the GreenJackets (7-5) a 1-0 lead after one complete.
In the second, Kannapolis (7-5) responded with four runs of their own, all started off a Michael Hickman leadoff walk against Augusta pitcher Garrett Cave. After the walk, Rivera reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jacob Gonzalez, followed by a six-pitch walk to Nolan Brown, loading the bases for Luis Gonzalez. The organization's 18th best prospect had never hit a grand slam until he hit a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall, giving Henzman and the I's a 4-1 lead.
Leading by three runs in the bottom of the second, Henzman recorded two quick outs after striking out Orlando Garcia and getting Rob Calabrese to ground out to third baseman Johan Cruz. But the third out did not come so easy. Trevor Abrams of the GreenJackets rocked a double to right field to start the two-out magic, and then scored off a Tate Blackman error off the bat of Logan Baldwin to cut the lead in half, 4-2. After a Baldwin steal and a Heliot Ramos walk for Augusta, Matheny doubled to center field, scoring both Ramos and Baldwin to tie the game. Again, all with two outs, Jean Angomas connected on the third double of the inning to score Matheny, giving the GreenJackets a 5-4 lead in just the second inning.
The scoring fizzled out for a few innings, as Yosmer Solorzano and Zach Lewis came in with two strong innings for Kannapolis, each picking up two strikeouts along the way.
In the sixth, Rivera (2) blasted his second home run in as many days with a solo-shot to left-center field, bringing the Intimidators within one run, 6-5.
Left-hander Kevin Escorcia got the third call out of the bullpen from manager Justin Jirschele in the seventh inning, striking out three in the inning, followed by another strikeout and a pickoff in the eighth.
Down by one in the ninth, Kannapolis put runners at the corners with a leadoff single from Justin Yurchak and another single from Evan Skoug, but it proved not to be enough as Hickman grounded out to short to end the ball game.
The Intimidators and GreenJackets will turn around and play a 10:35 a.m. game to complete the I's seven-game road trip, as Blake Battenfield will get the ball in the rubber game for Kannapolis.
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South Atlantic League Stories from April 17, 2018
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