Q's Draw Four Walks in Ninth to Seal Second Victory of Series

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Stiven Flores drew the fourth walk of the inning in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded to give the Kannapolis Q’s a, 7-6, thriller of a win over the Charleston RiverDogs Friday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.

With the win, Kannapolis leaps to 6-13 on the season, now in a split of the series at two games a piece. Charleston drops to 10-9, dropping a game where they led early and coughed up a lead.

RHP Caedmon Parker allowed three runs on four hits with a season-high six strikeouts, but received help from his offense to be granted a no-decision. LHP Trey Cooper found timely success in his 1.2 frames of relief, but struggled to keep Charleston off the scoreboard with three runs allowed on three hits. RHPs Daniel Wright and Marco Barrios (W, 1-1) held their own with shutout outings late, putting Kannapolis in a spot to rally for offense.

Javier Mogollon opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, lifting a sacrifice fly just three batters into the night to give the Q’s a, 1-0, lead.

Charleston came back with offense in the top of the second, going ahead on a balk that scored a run and a Nicandro Aybar RBI double. Taitn Gray put forth more offense in the top of the third, singling to right field to score Jack Lines and put the visitors in front, 3-1.

Another big inning from the Kannapolis offense yielded another lead change in the bottom of the fourth. Flores kicked off the inning with an RBI single, followed up one batter later by a Matthew Boughton sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Mogollon from second to tie the game. James Taussig put the Q’s in front with an RBI triple, making it a, 4-3, game. Arxy Hernandez capped the inning with a two RBI single to hand Kannapolis a, 6-3, lead.

Larry Martinez sparked a comeback for Charleston in the top of the sixth, launching his first home run as a RiverDog to add another two runs. Caden Bodine had a say in the score again this series, singling to right to tie the game at, 6-6.

With opportunities on both ends, Kannapolis led off the ninth with a walk from Hernandez, who was relieved quickly for D’Angelo Tejada as a pinch-runner. Following back-to-back strikeouts from Nathan Archer and Abraham Nunez, Carlson and Mogollon drew free passes against RHP Mason Auer to load the bases. Flores waited out Auer’s pitches to work the count full, taking the 3-2 pitch in the dirt for ball four, walking off the RiverDogs for the second time this week.

Kannapolis goes for a minimum share of the series in game five of the six game series on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Atrium Health Ballpark, with RHP Riley Eikhoff tabbed as Saturday’s starter for Kannapolis.

The 2026 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers season is underway at Atrium Health Ballpark! Single-game tickets, season ticket packages, group experiences and 10-game mini plans for the 2026 season are available for purchase now. Call the Cannon Ballers ticket office at (704) 932-3267 or visit kcballers.com for more information.