Preview: Road trip ends with breakfast baseball

Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) play for a series win in the finale of a 4-game set on the road against the Rome Braves (A, Atlanta Braves). Kannapolis is coming off a 9-5 loss to Rome on Monday which ended the Intimidators' season-high-tying four-game winning streak. Today's pitching match-up of Alec Hansen taking on Bryse Wilson is a rematch of the Intimidators early-morning Education Day game in Kannapolis on April 12 when Hansen fanned nine in a no decision. Right fielder Micker Adolfo brings his career-best 16-game hitting streak into the game as Kannapolis tries to clinch its fifth series win in 11 series this season.
Intimidating Starter: Alec Hansen, 22, makes his eighth start of the season and his second against Rome. He is coming off a road win at Augusta on May 11, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits over 5.2 innings while striking out four and walking two. Both of Hansen's wins have come on the road, where his is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA (4 ER/17.2 IP) in three road starts compared to 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA (10 ER/18.1 IP) in four home outings. In his lone career start against a Braves affiliate, Hansen struck out a season-high nine April 12 against Rome. Hansen, the White Sox second round pick in the June 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Oklahoma, finished 2016 with Kannapolis, making two starts in Class A to wrap up his professional debut. He combined to go 2-1 with a 1.32 ERA (8 ER/54.2 IP) and 81 strikeouts in 12 games (12 starts) across three levels - the AZL White Sox, Great Falls, and Kannapolis - in 2016. The Loveland, Col., native had three double-digit strikeout games in 2016, including a career-high 13 on August 21, 2016, at Helena in his final start in the Pioneer League. In two starts vs. Lakewood, he is 0-2 with a 2.79 ERA (3 ER/9.2 IP).
Brave on the Bump: Bryse Wilson, 19, makes his eighth start and second against Kannapolis in 2017. He currently ranks fourth in the SAL with a 1.72 ERA (6 ER/31.1 IP). The North Carolinian is coming off a no decision on May 11 against Hagerstown in which he allowed only an unearned run on five hits while striking out four in 5.0 innings. Wilson took no decision against the Intimidators on April 12, giving up three runs on six hits over 4.0 innings, striking out five with two walks. Wilson spent last season in the Gulf Coast League with the GCL Braves where he went 1-1 with a 0.68 ERA (2 ER/26.2 IP) in nine total appearances, six of them in a starting role. The Durham, N.C. native was drafted out of high school by the Braves in the fourth round of the June 2016 First-Year Player-Draft.
About Last Night:Antonio Rodriguez matched his career-high with four RBI, but it wasn't enough as Rome topped Kannapolis, 9-5, on Monday. The loss snapped the Intimidators 4-game winning streak. Trailing 7-0 after five innings, Kannapolis (19-16) answered in the top of the sixth and the first three batters - Joel Booker, Tyler Sullivan, and Mitch Roman - all singled to load the bases. Two batters later, Rodriguez belted his first of two doubles, clearing the bases and cutting the Braves lead to 7-3. In the eighth, Micker Adolfo extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a double, and Rodriguez followed with a ground-rule double that hopped over the wall in right-center field, driving in a run for his fourth RBI of the game. Braves starting pitcher Ryan Lawlor (3-0) struck out a career-high nine batters over 6.0 innings to earn the win while allowing his offense to build a lead. Yosmer Solorzano (1-3) took the loss, and Brandon White earned a save (4).
Rodriguez Rocks: Antonio Rodriguez drove in four runs Monday, his first 4-RBI game since June 20, 2014, for the AZL White Sox against the AZL Mariners. Rodriguez previously drove in three runs for Kannapolis this season on May 3 against Augusta. The outfielder has heated up at the plate lately, hitting safely in his last five games, batting .318 (7-22) in that time which spans the Intimidators current road trip. After batting .186 (13-70) in 18 games in April, Rodriguez is batting .323 (10-31) in eight games in May.
Adolfo's Streaks On: Micker Adolfo stepped to the plate 0-for-3 on the day with his 15-game hitting streak on the line. The White Sox prospect belted a double just out of the reach of Rome right-fielder Randy Ventura to extend his career-best hitting streak to 16 games, dating back to April 27. Adolfo is now one game shy of the longest hitting streak in the SAL this season (Hagerstown's Nick Banks, 17 games). He is batting .364 (24-66) during this streak, which is the longest streak by an Intimidators player since Michael Suiter hit safely in 23 straight games July 19-August 14, 2015.
No Foolin' Dulin: First baseman Brandon Dulin has heated up at the plate in May, batting .382 (13-34) in 10 games this month compared to batting .190 (15-79) during his first 20 games in April. Dulin is on a season-best five-game hitting streak, including four multi-hit games, batting .526 (10-19) since May 8.
Strong in the South: With Monday's loss, Kannapolis is now 7-1 in its road games against the South Atlantic League Southern Division this season. The Intimidators swept four games at Asheville April 17-19 and won its first four games on this road trip to Augusta and Rome. Following this road trip, Kannapolis will not visit a Southern Division foe until opening the second half of the season at Columbia starting June 22.
Need More Mo:Mike Morrison needed just 12 pitches to strike out the side in the a perfect ninth for his team-leading seventh save (7). Morrison is now 7-for-7 in save situations while tallying 26 strikeouts compared to three walks in 16.1innings for Kannapolis. He ranks tied for second in the SAL in saves and games (13), and among league relievers, he is first in batting average (.058), highest K/9 IP ratio at 14.33 (26 K/16.1 IP), and fewest base runners/9 IP ratio at 3.21 (6 H+BB+HBP/16.1 IP). The White Sox selected Morrison in the 27th round of the June 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Coastal Carolina where he was a member of the College World Series championship team.
Broadcast Information: All 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.