Crawdads' Wiper shuts down Intimidators

Just over two years ago, Cole Wiper underwent Tommy John surgery. A year ago, he was working on getting back on the baseball field at the University of Oregon. Now he's showing why the Texas Rangers had such faith in him last June.

The Rangers prospect gave up one hit over 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Saturday night as Class A Hickory defeated Kannapolis, 4-1, at CMC-NorthEast Stadium.

Wiper (2-5) struck out six batters and walked four, throwing 88 pitches. He yielded just a two-out single to Zach Voight in the fourth inning, retiring nine in a row before that.

"I think just staying with a good approach, changing speeds and trying to keep them off-balance helped me get through my innings," Wiper said.

The 21-year-old right-hander had his elbow repaired in November 2011, forcing him to redshirt his freshman year with the Ducks. He pitched only 12 2/3 innings and compiled a 7.11 ERA last season, but Texas selected him in the 10th round of the First-Year Player Draft.

"It's been quite a turnaround," Wiper said. "I had my struggles in college coming off surgery. It's just a process; I think I had to get some kinks out of my delivery and such. Happy with the progress, but I have to keep progressing."

The Rangers offered Wiper a $700,000 signing bonus, well over the slot for that round. That sort of faith made the decision to sign easier, although he considered returning to Eugene.

"I considered, Oregon is a great place." Wiper said. "I learned a lot, loved the coaches there and loved the team. At that point in time, it was the right decision to go pro and I'm glad I did. It [the signing bonus] was a pleasant surprise. With the year I had in college, it was unexpected, but I was happy they did and I'm just trying to make the best of it."

Wiper also was taken in the 14th round of the 2011 Draft by the Blue Jays. At the time, the 6-foot-4 hurler reportedly reached the upper-80s with his fastball. Now he sits in the low- to mid-90s, an uptick he attributes to maturing.

"I think the rehab definitely helped that, but the biggest thing was just getting stronger, letting my body mature," he said. "Just kind of growing up has helped with the increase in velocity."

Wiper lowered his ERA to 3.52 in eight South Atlantic starts. Aside from his last outing on May 11 against Augusta, he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start and has fanned 39 batters over 38 1/3 innings. Despite the strong numbers, he entered Saturday's game on a personal four-game losing streak.

"That's the game of baseball -- sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't," he said. "I was just happy to put up zeros and give our team a chance to win."

Ricardo Rodriguez gave up two hits over 2 1/3 innings and Ryan Harvey surrendered an unearned run while recording one out. Cody Kendall retired two batters to earn his first save of the season.

Nick Vickerson hit a solo homer and scored twice, while Kellin Deglan slugged a two-run blast for Hickory.

Intimidators starter Thad Lowry (0-1) gave up a run on three hits over five innings, striking out four without walking a batter.