Late-inning Runs for Hagerstown Leads to I's Lopsided Loss

KANNAPOLIS, NC - On a wet and cloudy night at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health, the Intimidators struggled to cool the Suns' hot bats, losing their sixth straight game, 13-4.
Kannapolis got the offense going early, striking with two runs in the first inning off Hagerstown starter Tomas Alastre via two consecutive RBI doubles from Gunnar Troutwine and Alex Destino. Just one inning later, Logan Sowers cranked a line drive home run to left-center to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Hagerstown found offense soon after, scoring two in the third inning off a Justin Connell two-run home run, bringing home Cody Wilson to make the score 3-2.
The Intimidators kept up the scoring pace in the fourth, making it 4-2 with a Michael Hickman home run on a 1-1- pitch. With the big fly, Hickman extends his hitting streak to five games.
Intimidators' starter Konnor Pilkington allowed three earned runs on four hits, while striking out seven Suns' batters over 4.2 innings of work.
RHP Johan Dominguez replaced Pilkington, but then struggled to hold onto the Kannapolis lead. Dominguez allowed seven hits, seven runs (five earned) and tallied two strikeouts over 0.2 innings of relief. Sam Long followed Dominguez, as the southpaw surrendered three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings of work. Bennett Sousa closed out the final four outs for Kannapolis on defense, striking out three batters.
Hagerstown finished with 17 hits and 13 runs, including scoring two runs on two Kannapolis errors. The Intimidators finished with nine hits, coming up empty in the run column from the fifth inning on.
The Intimidators will be back in action Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health, as RHP Kade McClure will take the mound for Kannapolis against the Suns' RHP Joan Adon.