Ballers Win to Survive Late Delmarva Push in Pauley’s Career Night Wednesday

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers held on to earn their second win of the week in Wednesday’s matchup with the Delmarva Shorebirds, 9-8, after the visitors put up seven runs in the ninth at Atrium Health Ballpark.

RHP Truman Pauley put together yet another successful performance, striking out 11 Delmarva bats, the most any Kannapolis pitcher has struck out in a single game this season. Pauley also set a record with now 120 strikeouts on his year, making him the Cannon Ballers single season record holder for strikeouts, surpassing Grant Umberger’s mark from last season.

After Pauley, LHP Frankeli Arias held Delmarva off with three shutout frames. RHPs Nick Weyrich and Ryan Schiefer combined to allow a whopping seven runs in the ninth, while LHP Grant Cleavinger cleaned up the leftovers to earn his second win of the season.

The Shorebirds opened the scoring for the first time this week, going ahead, 1-0, on a Jimmy Anderson RBI single to hand the visitors an early advantage in the second inning.

Clay Burdette answered with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the second for Kannapolis, scoring Stiven Flores and Braden Holcomb. Flores added another run of his own in the third, a three-run frame for the Ballers. After his sacrifice fly, a wild pitch allowed Abraham Nunez to score. Grayson Fitzwater then drove in Flores on a sacrifice fly to right, putting the Ballers ahead, 5-1, after three.

Fitzwater’s huge night of offense continued in the fifth, smacking his fourth home run of the season to put Kannapolis in front, 7-1.

With Weyrich on the mound, Delmarva capitalized to pull off a miraculous comeback. Eric Booth Jr. doubled down the left field line to score a pair to make, 7-3. Stiven Martinez quickly followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to, 7-4, before Carlos Sanchez reached on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Jemone Nuel walked with the bases loaded to make it a one-run game. Anderson’s second RBI base hit of the night game the visitors their first lead since the second frame, going ahead, 8-7, on a two-RBI double.

Kannapolis far from expected to be required to bat in the bottom of the ninth, much less trailing. Despite this, the Ballers stayed persistent. Nunez reached on a misplayed pop-up to reach base as the tying run, scoring later in the inning on a 110 miles-per-hour line drive from Fitzwater to tie the game. With pinch-runner Christian Gonzalez at third, Burdette attacked the first pitch of his at-bat to lift a sacrifice fly to right, handing Kannapolis a, 9-8, walk-off victory.

RHP Gabe Tanner gets the ball for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in their third game of the week against the Delmarva Shorebirds Thursday. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. in the final Thirsty Thursday game of the season and the final appearance of Los Ajolotes de Kannapolis.

Fans can learn more about season ticket memberships, mini plans, group outings, and hospitality packages for the 2027 season by visiting kcballers.com, calling (704) 932-3267 or emailing [email protected] for more information.