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Petricka fans nine in six hitless innings
White Sox prospect dominates defending league champions
04/10/2011 5:37 PM ET
Jake Petricka was selected 63rd overall in the 2010 Draft.
Jake Petricka was selected 63rd overall in the 2010 Draft. (Tony Campbell/Indiana State Univ.)
It will be difficult for Jake Petricka to top his first South Atlantic League start.

The White Sox's second-round pick in the 2010 Draft pitched six hitless frames and struck out nine Sunday before the Class A Kannapolis Intimidators posted a 2-0, 16-inning victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Petricka's season debut was pushed back twice due to rain. If the wait bothered him, he didn't allow it to show on the mound in the first game of a doubleheader.

The 22-year-old right-hander struck out the first two batters he faced, another in the second and two in a row to end the third. He bookended the fourth with punchouts and went on to fan the first two batters in the fifth.

Cameron Rupp -- the Phillies' 2010 third-round pick -- worked a two-out walk to end Petricka's bid for perfection, but Anthony Hewitt popped out to end the inning. The BlueClaws' only other runner against Petricka came in the sixth, when Edgar Duran reached on an error by right fielder Ryan Hamme.

The White Sox drafted Petricka 63rd overall out of Indiana State, where he was an all-Missouri Valley Conference selection as a junior. He went 2-5 with a 3.05 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 44 1/3 innings for Rookie-level Bristol and the Intimidators last season.

The game remained scoreless until the 16th, when 2010 14th-round pick Michael Blanke slugged a two-run homer off Hector Neris (0-1), Lakewood's fifth pitcher. Steven Upchurch (1-0) fanned two over 1 1/3 innings for the win.

Josh Jackson is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
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