Contribution from Offense Hands Ballers First Win of Week over Woodpeckers Thursday

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers struck often on offense and used a smooth night on the mound from three different arms to pick up their first win of the week against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on Thursday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.

LHP Tyler Schweitzer (W, 4-2) earned his team-high fourth win of the season, tossing seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings, walking three and allowing one unearned run on three hits. RHP Horacio Andujar (H, 1) cleaned through the order in relief of Schweitzer, tossing 1.1 innings of shutout baseball with one strikeout along the way.

Kannapolis struck for the first time in Thursday’s game, throwing the first punch for the first time all week in the bottom of the third inning. With Tim Elko at the plate, Logan Glass crossed the plate on a balk to put the Ballers on top 1-0. Later in the at-bat, Elko put a ball into play, drawing an error from third baseman Ricardo Balogh, giving Drake Logan the chance to score and hand Kannapolis a 2-0 lead.

Later in the third inning, Brooks Baldwin poked a triple into right field, scoring Mario Camilletti and Elko to push the Ballers to a 4-0 lead after three innings.

Fayetteville scooped their only run of the game in the top of the sixth inning, with Balogh scoring on a balk from Andujar, cutting the lead to 4-1.

Johnabiell Laureano ignited another run of offense for the Cannon Ballers in the seventh inning, notching an RBI single to make it 5-1 Kannapolis. Later in the frame, with the bases loaded, Drake Logan drew his third walk of the night to hand the Ballers another insurance run.

Luis Pineda capped the offense’s night in the bottom of the eighth for Kannapolis, crushing an RBI double to score Camilletti and Willits, thrusting the Ballers ahead 8-1 over the visiting Peckers.

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers resume action on Friday night in the fourth of six matchups in the week against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m., with an announcement to come in the imminent future of who the starting arm will be for the Ballers.

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