Kannapolis Intimidators 11, West Virginia Power 7
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The Power got into a wild game, with the two teams combining for 27 hits. C Kawika Emsley-Pai had 3 hits, and SS Gift Ngoepe hit a homer.
Kannapolis was onto the scoreboard first, with a solo homer by CF Trayce Thompson to lead off the bottom of the inning, off Power starter Brandon Cumpton. The Power ran themselves out of some scoring in the 2nd. LF Rogelios Noris singled, but was thrown out trying to steal second base. RF Dan Grovatt also singled, and he was also picked off and caught stealing. If they had been on base, they could have scored when Emsley-Pai doubled into left field, but instead, Emsley-Pai was left on base, and the Power were still down by a run.
But not for long. The Power showed their power in the top of the 3rd, beginning with Ngoepe and his second home run of the season. 1B Matt Curry walked, then with 2 outs, DH Justin Howard singled and both stole the next base. Back-to-back doubles by Noris and Grovatt drove in three runs, and Emsley-Pai added another run with an RBI single, to give the Power a 5-1 lead.
The Intimidators came roaring back in the bottom of the inning. A walk and four straight singles led off the inning, and brought in 3 runs. After Cumpton got a fly out and a strikeout, he gave up a 2-RBI double, then an RBI single to give Kannapolis a 7-5 lead. Zac Fuesser relieved Cumpton and ended the inning with a fly out. Fuesser gave up 2 runs in the 4th, though, on three singles and a wild pitch.
The Power picked up one more run in the top of the 6th, when SS Andy Vasquez, who had taken over at short from Ngoepe, smacked a triple off the right field wall, then scored on an RBI ground out by CF Mel Rojas. Kannapolis also had a triple, off the left field wall, in the 7th, and scored one run with an RBI single. After Fuesser picked off the runner from first, he walked the next two batters. He was replaced by Zach Foster, who gave up a single into left field. LF Noris made an on-target throw in to the plate, where Emsley-Pai tagged out the lead runner to end the inning. Kannapolis’ Trayce Thompson hit his second solo homer of the game in the bottom of the 8th, increasing the Intimidators’ lead to 11 – 6.
The Power had one more chance in the top of the 9th. Vasquez led off with a single, and with a wide throw by the Kannapolis’ second baseman, Vasquez advanced to second base, sliding under the tag. Vasquez advanced to third on Rojas’ ground out. A sacrifice fly by Curry plated Vasquez, but that was all the Power could get, and Kannapolis had the win.
The game’s radio broadcast was being handled by the Kannapolis radio guy, who was laughing at the fact that there are four pitchers named Zac/Zack/Zach on the Power team.
The Power also play a morning game on Wednesday, with a 10:05 start.
