Walks Prove Costly for Cannon Ballers in 4-2 Loss at Home

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Despite outhitting the Fireflies for the second day in a row, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers dropped Sunday afternoon’s matchup 4-2 to Columbia, putting an end to the six-game home series at Atrium Health Ballpark.

RHP Chase Solesky got the start for the Ballers on the bump. The Tulane product provided stability on the mound, going four innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out five. RHP Martin Carrasco entered in relief in the fifth inning, throwing two innings, striking out two, allowing three hits and one earned run.

Sam Abbott opened the scoring for the Ballers in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout that scored Benyamin Bailey. Two batters later, Johnabiell Laureano drove in Victor Torres with an RBI single to give Kannapolis a 2-0 advantage.

The Fireflies answered in the top of the fifth when Diego Hernandez notched an RBI single to score Herard Gonzalez, cutting the Ballers lead to 2-1.

Columbia gained traction in the top of the seventh, tying the game on a bases-loaded walk by Darryl Collins. The lead changed hands just one batter later with another bases-loaded walk, this time by Juan Carlos Negret. The pair of walks by Garvin Alston (L, 0-2) proved to be costly, allowing the Fireflies to take the lead 3-2.

RHP Matt Stil got the ball to open the ballgame for the Fireflies, going three innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out four. LHP Patrick Smith entered in relief for an inning before departing in favor of LHP A.J. Block (W, 1-0). The lefty who started for Columbia on Tuesday fired four innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven Kannapolis batters.

Another costly error on defense gave Columbia an insurance run in the top of the eighth when Ballers catcher Victor Torres allowed a passed ball, giving Matt Schmidt the chance to cross the plate, making it 4-2, advantage Fireflies.

The Cannon Ballers have Monday off before taking a road trip to Zebulon for a six-game series with the Carolina Mudcats. Kannapolis returns home June 8-13 to face the Mudcats at Atrium Health Ballpark.

Fans can keep up with the action while the Ballers are on the road on the team’s social media pages, with live game updates being shared on the team’s Twitter account @kcannonballers.