Hickman strikes out 7, earns first career win

COLUMBIA, S.C. (June 25, 2017) - Blake Hickman struck out a career-high seven batters en route to his first career win as the Intimidators edged the Fireflies, 2-1, on Sunday evening at Spirit Communication Park in Columbia, S.C. Kannapolis (3-1 Second Half, 42-30) topped Tim Tebow's Columbia Fireflies for the third time in four games to claim a series win to open the Second Half of the season.
Hickman (1-1) worked 6.0 innings, bouncing back from allowing a first-inning run to shutout the Fireflies over his final five frames. The White Sox seventh round pick out of Iowa in the June 2015 First-Year Player Draft finished with three hits allowed while walking two. Hickman, who missed his first two seasons while recovering from injury, made his professional debut with Kannapolis at the end of May.
Trailing 1-0 going into the seventh, Kannapolis rallied for two runs in the top of the inning to grab the lead against Columbia reliever Cameron Griffin (0-2), who was tagged with the loss for his inning of work. Griffin retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a base hit to Zach Remillard. Grant Massey followed with a game-tying double to center field that scored Remillard from first base. Daniel Gonzalez added an RBI-single to cash Massey for the go-ahead run.
Lane Hobbs took the mound with a 2-1 lead and spun a scoreless seventh and eighth before handing the ball to Matt Foster, who faced the minimum in the ninth for his second save (2) of the series.
Columbia took a 1-0 lead on a Dash Winningham base hit that scored Andrés Giménez in the home half of the first, and the Fireflies held the lead until the seventh inning.
Fireflies starter Thomas Szapucki struck out 10 batters over 6.0 shutout innings, limiting Kannapolis to two hits and two walks before exiting the game.
Tebow, the former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at the University of Florida who also previously played in the NFL, finished the game 0-2 with a walk. In four games against the Intimidators, he hit .182 (2-11) with two doubles, two RBI, and two runs scored.
Kannapolis will face Columbia at Spirit Communications Park again July 15-17 before the Fireflies make their lone visit of the season to Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare System the following weekend, July 22-25.
The Intimidators return to Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare System on Monday, to open an 8-game home stand against the Hickory Crawdads. Kannapolis will send RHP Luis Martinez (1-0, 1.80 ERA) to the mound against Hickory's LHP Sal Mendez (4-3, 4.72 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. Monday's game is Belly Buster Monday where all tickets include all-you-can-eat at the concessions stand for only $16 (only $14 for kids 4-12). Tickets are available by calling the F&M Bank Box Office at 704-932-3267 or by visiting IntimidatorsBaseball.com.