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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Long Deals and Leads Kannapolis to 4-2 Victory

July 21, 2019 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - The Kannapolis Intimidators (15-15, 43-55) competed in a close game all Saturday night against the Lakewood BlueClaws (10-18, 39-59), ultimately pulling away in the eighth inning to capture a 4-2 victory at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.

The main talking point through the first three and a half innings of the game was Sam Long. Through four innings of work for him, he struck out 10 batters, including striking out the side in both the third and fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Intimidators managed to break through the deadlock that the game had been in. Andrew Vaughn led the inning off with a double and was later driven in from a Gunnar Troutwine sac fly to take the 1-0 lead.

A couple innings later in the top of the sixth, Long had his no-hitter broken up by Malvin Matos. He got the next two batters to lineout and ground out, respectively, and that brought him to the end of his day. He finished with a spectacular outing of 5.2 IP, a season high 10 K's, and just the one hit allowed. J.B. Olson came in for Long and helped get the Intimidators out of the sixth unscathed.

Johan Cruz continued his hot hitting in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run (6) to double the lead to 2-0.

Things quickly went downhill for Olson on the mound after getting the lead-off hitter in the top of the seventh to fly out. He allowed three straight singles, and then hit Matos with a pitch which brought Carlos De La Cruz in to score. That would bring Olson's day to a close with Austin Conway (W, 1-0) coming in to replace him.

Conway immediately walked a batter, which brought in Rafael Marchan to tie the game at 2-2, but he settled in well after that. He got a double play to end the seventh, and then retired the side in order in the top of the eighth.

The bottom of the eighth is when Kannapolis struck again. With runners on first and second, Romy Gonzalez doubled down the left-field line and drove in Cruz to take the 3-2 lead. The next batter, Corey Zangari, flew out, but the throw back into the infield from Lakewood airmailed to the backstop and brought Vaughn in to extend the lead to 4-2.

Aside from a two-out double from Cole Stobbe, Conway (W, 1-0) finished out the game for the Intimidators to guide them to a 4-2 victory.

Kannapolis will look to win the series on Sunday afternoon against Lakewood. The pitching matchup will be Kevin Gowdy (0-4, 4.17 ERA) for the BlueClaws against Davis Martin (5-8, 5.84 ERA) for the Intimidators.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 21, 2019


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