Preview: Cease to make Sox debut today

Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) take the field for a sweep against the Fireflies (A, Mets) on Monday. Kannapolis is coming off a pair of wins at Columbia to pull out of last in the SAL Northern Division Second Half standings and today sends the newest Intimidator to the mound as Dylan Cease makes his White Sox debut. Cease, whom the Sox acquired on Thursday from the Cubs as part of the José Quintana deal, will face Harol Gonzalez.
Sweep Dreams: Kannapolis has a chance to sweep a series for the first time since since taking back-to-back doubleheaders against Hagerstown on June 14-15 to sweep a 4-games-in-2-days set that helped the Intimidators capture the First Half Championship. This season, Kannapolis has swept four series, all in the first half. 
         Dates                    Opponent          Games     Notes                                                                
         April 17-19             at Asheville       3            First sweep since Aug 8-10, 2016, vs. Hagerstown
         May 2-4                 Augusta             3            Intimidators opened series with 12-5 win, 15 hits
         May 10-11              at Augusta         2            Final game of series cancelled due to power outage
         June 14-15              Hagerstown        4            Sweep put Intimidators into first place in division
Intimidating Starters: Dylan Cease, 21, makes his organizational debut after the White Sox acquired the hard-throwing right-hander from the Cubs on Thursday as part of the Jose Quintana deal that netted the Pale Hose four prospects. Cease is 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA (16 ER/51.2 IP) and 74 strikeouts in 13 games (13 starts) for Class A South Bend this season. His ERA would rank seventh in the Midwest League if he had worked enough innings to rank among qualifiers. The former Cubs sixth round pick from the June 2014 First-Year Player Draft made his professional debut in 2015 with the AZL Cubs, going 1-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 11 games (eight starts) before advancing to Short-Season Eugene in 2016, going 2-0 with a 2.22 ERA in 12 games (12 starts). In his career, Cease is 4-4 with a 2.54 ERA (34 ER/120.1 IP) and 165 strikeouts compared to 67 walks in 36 games (33 starts).
Firing for Fireflies: Harol Gonzalez, 22, makes his 16th start of the season and second against Kannapolis. He is coming off three losses in his last four starts, starting with a loss on June 23 to the Intimidators, allowing five runs on nine hits over 6.0 innings. He has worked at least 6.0 IP in each of his last eight starts since May 28, going 3-3 with a 3.64 ERA (22 ER/54.1 IP) in that stretch. The SAL is batting .287 against Gonzalez, who has thrown a pair of complete games as part of doubleheaders (7-inning outings). Last season with Short-Season Brooklyn, he went 7-3 with a 2.01 ERA (19 ER/85.0 IP) and 88 strikeouts in 14 games (13 starts). He made his debut in 2014 with the DSL Mets, going 2-3 with a 3.24 ERA (18 ER/50.0 IP) and 53 strikeouts in 15 games (seven starts) before earning a promotion to Advanced Rookie Kingsport in 2015.
About Last Night: Blake Hickman tossed 6.0 scoreless innings to pitch Kannapolis to a win over the Fireflies, 3-0, on Sunday. Hickman (2-4) limited the Fireflies to three hits and three walks while tossing 6.0 shutout innings, the first scoreless outing of his career, to earn the win. Antonio Rodriguez put the Intimidators on the board in the second with an RBI-single to cash Jake Burger. Kannapolis added two more in the seventh. Micker Adolfo led off with a walk and moved to second base on Luis Gonzalez's one-out single that chased Fireflies reliever Taylor Henry from the game. Daniel Gonzalez welcomed new Columbia pitcher Adam Atkins to the game with a line drive to left field to load the bases. Two batters later, J.J. Franco singled to right field, scoring Adolfo and Gonzalez for a 3-0 lead. Columbia's Gary Cornish (1-3) worked 5.2 IP, allowing a run on four hits while striking out four and walking two in a loss.
Blanking the Bugs: Kannapolis spun its second shutout of the year with a 3-0 win at Columbia on Sunday. Blake Hickman (6.0 IP), Danny Dopico (2.0), and Mick VanVossen (1.0) combed to keep the Fireflies off the board over nine innings, the first Intimidators shutout since a 1-0 win in the first game of an April 26 doubleheader at Hagerstown. The I's two shutouts are tied with the West Virginia Power for the fewest in the SAL in 2017. Kannapolis tossed 10 shutouts in 2016 and 13 in 2015, one shy of the league-high that season.
Turning Two, Times Four: Kannapolis matched a season-high with four double plays Sunday in a 3-0 win at Columbia. The Intimidators also turned two four times on June 8 at Lakewood in 2017. Kannapolis last turned five double plays on August 14, 2016, against Lakewood to match the franchise record.
Constantly on the Card: Two Intimidators - infielders Zach Remillard and Mitch Roman - lead the South Atlantic League in games played this season with 90 apiece. They are one game ahead of Hickory's Leody Taveras, who has appeared in 89 Sally League games in 2017. 
Broadcast Information: All home and select road games will be broadcast live on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network online at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and via the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his seventh season as the "Voice of the Intimidators." Phil Constantino will handle play-by-play during weekend home games.