KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - On a day where there were 44 strikeouts in 15 innings of play throughout two games, Kannapolis split the Monday double header with Hickory, with both teams capturing 2-1 victories at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.Game 1In the first, Tanner Gardner (1) and Curtis Terry (15)
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - On a day where there were 44 strikeouts in 15 innings of play throughout two games, Kannapolis split the Monday double header with Hickory, with both teams capturing 2-1 victories at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.
Game 1
In the first, Tanner Gardner (1) and Curtis Terry (15) both doubled off Kannapolis starter Davis Martin (L, 2-2) with two outs to put the first run on the board for either team.
In the next half-inning, Ian Dawkins singled and then advanced to third after Lenyn Sosa reached on a fielders choice and error from pitcher Tim Brennan, putting runners at the corners for Romy Gonzalez. On a 1-1 pitch, Gonzalez grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, bringing in Dawkins to tie the game, 1-1.
With neither team putting up a run in the second frame, Frainyer Chaver singled and stole both second and third base, scoring two batters later thanks to a Matt Whatley ground ball through the right side. Despite giving up a run in the third inning, Martin collected three strikeouts around those two hits.
One inning later, Martin punched out another three Hickory batters in order, making up a third of his nine strikeouts on the night.
After Bryce Bush doubled (6) in the bottom of the first inning, Brennan (W, 2-1) sat down 19 batters in a row to finish off his complete game outing. Brennan finished with seven strikeouts, allowing one run on two hits in his 2019 debut with Hickory.
Game 2
In the first inning of the last game of the series, Hickory's Yerry Rodriguez struck out the side and Kannapolis' Konnor Pilkington picked up two strikeouts to set the stage for the pitcher's duel.
Working around a leadoff single from Sam Huff in the second inning to keep Hickory off the scoreboard, Pilkington watched as Rodriguez picked up three more strikeouts in the frame.
In the third, Ramon Beltre collected the only hit against Rodriguez all night long, blooping a double over the first baseman's head. With Gonzalez following up Beltre's double (8) with a walk, Bush proved to be one of 12 strikeouts on the night for Rodriguez. The right-handed pitcher for the Crawdads tossed 5.0 innings of almost un-hittable ball, followed by Scott Engler, who entered and struck out five of the six batters that he faced.
With Pilkington striking out at least one batter per inning in his 6.0 innings of work, with a total of eight punch outs, Johan Dominguez stepped up out the bullpen and collected two more strikeouts through 1.0 inning on the bump for Kannapolis.
In the eighth, Vince Arobio (W, 1-1) allowed the free-runner on second base to score thanks to a single off the bat of Jonathan Ornelas, bringing across the first and only run for the Crawdads.
In the bottom of the eighth, Amado Nunez used a sacrifice bunt to move Lenyn Sosa from second to third, as Dawkins scored Sosa with a single through the right side of the infield to tie the game, 1-1. One pitch later, Beltre pushed a bunt back to pitcher Grant Anderson, as Anderson fielded the ball and fired wildly to third base, allowing Nunez to come around and score the game-winning run for Kannapolis.
The Intimidators will enjoy the day off on Tuesday before heading to Lexington for a three-game road trip starting on Wednesday.
