Late Comeback Attempts Fall Short In 4-3 Loss for Q’s Friday 

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – The Kannapolis Q’s batted just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Friday, night, falling, 4-3, to the Charleston RiverDogs at Atrium Health Ballpark.

With the loss, Kannapolis falls to 10-8 on the season, still in third place in the Carolina League South division and one game behind the lead. Charleston snaps a six-game losing streak with the win, jumping to four games under .500 at 7-11 in the early portion of the 2024 campaign.

RHP Seth Keener tossed a career-high eight strikeouts in four shutout innings for Kannapolis, allowing no runs and walking three RiverDogs. LHP Tommy Vail (L, 0-1) struggled for the first time on the mound in 2024, allowing three runs on four hits, walking three and striking out two in 1.2 frames.

Friday’s loss is just the second time that Kannapolis has lost a game in which they score first, produced by Matt Hogan in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly, scoring Ronny Hernandez to make it, 1-0, Q’s after two.

Eddie Park doubled Kannapolis’ lead with a ground-rule RBI double in the bottom of the fifth. Park’s first RBI hit of the season scored Javier Mora to make it, 2-0, after five in favor of the home side.

The RiverDogs crushed Kannapolis pitching in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs on an Angel Mateo RBI single, a Noah Myers RBI single and a bases-loaded walk of Joshuan Sandoval to change the lead to, 3-2, advantage Charleston.

Narciso Polanco added an insurance run for the RiverDogs in the top of the eighth, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to score Woo Shin and make it a, 4-2, game in favor of the visitors.

The Q’s had runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, and even got a run back in the bottom of the eighth on a Matt Hogan RBI double. Despite the effort, Kannapolis stranded a pair of runners in both of the final innings to fall in the fourth game of the homestand.

LHP Lucas Gordon starts on the mound for the home side on Saturday night in the fifth of six games this week between Kannapolis and Charleston. First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m., with postgame fireworks in the plans for fans to enjoy.

Saturday is also the final day of Q’s Weekend, when Kannapolis will be wearing their black Q’s jerseys on-field in 2024.

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