KANNAPOLIS— Greg Legg’s homecoming is one he won’t soon forget.
He’d like to, but it won’t be easy.
Legg, manager of the Piedmont Boll Weevils last season, left Fieldcrest CannonStadium with four losses and an ejection. The Kannapolis Intimidators finished off a series sweep of the Lakewood (N.J.) Blue Claws — last year’s Weevils — with a 10-6 win Sunday.
“I’d like to have won a ballgame,”Legg said. “We had a chance to win two, but in the other two they outplayed us all the way around. Kannapolis has a great team.”
Which is why Legg doesn’t think the Intimidators need any help. He got tossed in the bottom of the fourth inning after the second of two controversial calls went against his squad Sunday.
Kannapolis (4-0) trailed early before rallying for four runs in the third inning. The last two came across when Casey Rogowski grounded a single into right field. Former Weevil Carlos Acevedo came up throwing, catcher Carlos Ruiz reeled it in and held on as Intimidator Wally Rosa crashed into him.
But the home plate umpire called Rosa safe.
“He said he saw the catcher get hit and then catch the ball,”Legg said. “That’s pretty much impossible — get drilled and then catch a ball. I don’t know of anybody who can do that.”
Legg’s day ended an inning later. Kannapolis came all the way back to lead 7-6 on Chris Amador’s infield grounder. Lakewood got one out at second, but the go-ahead run scored when Scott Youngbauer’s thrown bounded past first.
Amador had thoughts of advancing on the wild throw, and took a few steps toward second before the ball caromed back to first baseman Dario Delgado. He tagged Amador, who was called safe after he hopped back into foul territory.
Legg went nuts on that one and was tossed by infield umpire Rodney Galloway, the same umpire who ruled an Intimidator home run ball fair on Saturday night that Legg thought was foul. When the coach brought that call up, Galloway had heard enough.
“He (Amador) took a nice break toward second, but Rod didn’t see it,”Legg said. “We should’ve turned the double play anyway.”
Legg’s outburst didn’t fire up his team any. Reliever Eude Brito surrendered a two-run blast to John Lackaff and a solo bomb to Derek Wigginton in the seventh inning to secure the victory.
The bottom of the order also delivered Sunday, scoring five runs. Lakewood starter Yoel Hernandez breezed through the first two innings before the Intimidators scratched in the third.
Seven-hitter Nilson Teilon reached on an infield single, Joey Gillikin’s grounder to third hopped into left field and Wally Rosa took a hanging curve to the helmet to load the bases with no outs.
Amador, the leadoff man, also got hit, driving home the Intimidators’ first run. Two outs later, Rogowski brought two teammates in with his single to right.
DarrenCiraco, batting sixth, started the fourth-inning rally with a walk, Teilon singled and Gillikin launched a double to the right-field warning track to plate Kannapolis’ fifth run. Rosa’s infield single off Hernandez’s hand tied the game, and Gillikin scored before the controversial fielder’s choice.
“Ihave to put them in numerical order 1-9,”Kannapolis head coach Razor Shines said. “But we’ve got guys hitting at the bottom of the order who can be at the top. We’ll move people around some this year.”
Shines’ team nearly needed all those hits, but some great defensive plays — despite three errors on the scoreboard — saved the Intimidators.
Lakewood scored a run in the first inning — the first time this series Kannapolis trailed — but had a big inning cut short on a line drive that Amador snagged. He then raced to second for a double play.
Amador turned another twin killing in the fourth inning with runners at second and third. Dario Delgado blasted a line drive that Amador dove for, then flipped to the bag for another easy two.
And in the third inning, Wigginton cut off a double to the left-field corner and made a strong throw to the infield that kept a BlueClaw runner on third, where he was stranded one out later.
“We’re gonna make some mistakes. If you’re not going to make errors, that column wouldn’t be on the board,”Shines said. “We’re also going to make some great plays with the gloves. I feel blessed to be around kids who can make those kinds of plays.”
Today's News