Barrage of Home Runs Hurt Ballers in 9-2 Loss to Shorebirds 

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers dropped their fourth straight game on Wednesday, falling, 9-2, to the Delmarva Shorebirds Wednesday at Atrium Health Ballpark.

With the loss, Kannapolis falls to 13-15 on the season, with just three wins in their last 10 games. Delmarva has picked up the pace on their season, winning five of their last 10 and moving to 8-20 on their season record.

RHP Jake Peppers struggled in his start on the mound, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits, walking three and striking out two. LHP Frankeli Arias turned the momentum in his two innings of work, shutting out the Shorebirds with one walk and one strikeout.

Kannapolis’ lone runs of the day came in the bottom of the fifth, with Wilber Sanchez tallying a sacrifice fly to score Arxy Hernandez, followed later in the inning by a delayed steal of home by Rikuu Nishida to hand the Ballers their second run of the game.

The Shorebirds scored early and often in Wednesday’s game, notching a run in the first on an Angel Tejada RBI single. Delmarva scored more in the top of the second on an Aneudis Mordan solo home run, a Cole Urman RBI on a fielding error to score Jake Cunningham, and an RBI groundout from Aron Estrada to extend Delmarva’s lead to, 4-0, after two.

Another run for the visitors crossed in the third on the first of two Anderson De Los Santos home runs, pushing the Shorebirds lead to, 5-0, after three.

Kannapolis put up their two runs in the fifth but struggled to make a comeback. The difficulties culminated in the top of the ninth, when Delmarva pushed for another four runs from a Tejada home run, De Los Santos’ second home run of the day, and an Urman RBI double to leap the Shorebirds to, 9-2, a lead that Kannapolis failed to overtake.

The Ballers will look to rebound in the third of six games this week with the Shorebirds on Thursday evening. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., with RHP Aldrin Batista getting the start for Kannapolis.

Fans can purchase tickets for Thursday’s game or any remaining home games at kcballers.com or at the F&M Bank Box Office located at Atrium Health Ballpark.