Pitching Duel Turned Nightmare Hands Ballers 6-1 Loss to Augusta Friday  

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – After Friday night’s game began as a seven inning, one hour and 20-minute game, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers crumbled in the eighth inning, allowing Augusta to jump ahead and win 6-1 Friday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.

RHP Noah Owen tallied his longest outing of the season, going 6.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking three and striking out five. RHP Kole Ramage cleaned up the pitching effort in the seventh, delivering one pitch to draw a flyout and send the game into the bottom of the seventh inning.

The GreenJackets earned all of the hits up till the seventh inning, striking for the first run of the game in the seventh with an Ethan Workinger RBI double, scoring David McCabe to push Augusta ahead 1-0.

The Ballers did not add a hit until the bottom of the seventh, also earning their first run on a Benyamin Bailey sacrifice fly, allowing Jacob Burke to cross the plate and knot the ballgame at 1-1.

Everything fell apart for Kannapolis in the eighth with RHP Liam Jenkins (L, 2-1) on the mound. The righty allowed five runs, four earned, with three walks and two hit-by-pitches, giving Augusta the opportunity to strike for a lead. McCabe’s walk gave the GreenJackets a 2-1 lead, then a Noah Williams hit-by-pitch, a balk allowing Drake Baldwin to score, an error drawn by Mahki Backstrom, and a Workinger sacrifice fly put Augusta ahead at 6-1, a lead in which the Ballers could not climb back from.

Saturday night marks the fifth of six matchups between the Cannon Ballers and GreenJackets, with it being the final post-game fireworks night of the 2022 season. Firsts pitch is set for 7:00 p.m., with LHP Jose Jimenez getting the start for the Ballers.

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