KANNAPOLIS— It took all of six games for the Kannapolis Intimidators to play a do-or-die game.
OK, maybe not do-or-die, but big nonetheless.
The Intimidators won their first four games of the season but were then thrashed in its opening game of a series with the Delmarva Shorebirds.
So there was something to prove in Tuesday morning ‘s start (that’s right, Tuesday morning).
And although the home team got just four hits — two in the first inning and two in the eighth — the Intimidators rode the arm of lefty starter Dennis Ulacia to a tense 5-3 victory at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
The game started at 11:05 a.m. and the stadium’s fan base was made up mostly of elementary and middle school kids.
So Ulacia, who threw a no-hitter into the seventh in his first start, went into the seventh again, making his outing look like kid’s stuff.
“It wasn’t as good as the other night but it was a very good performance,” said manager Razor Shines. “He got a little tired in the seventh.”
Heading into the seventh, the Intimidators were holding a comfortable 4-1 cushion. Three of the runs came in the first.
After Ulacia gave up one in the top of the first, Kannapolis responded with three in the bottom half.
Shines immediately began sending his runners. Guillermo Reyes walked, stole second, went to third on an error and when John Lackaff stole second, Reyes sprinted home on the throw. Lackaff stole third and scored on Darren Ciraco’s single. Joey Gillikin also had an RBI.
Neither Ulacia or Delmarva starter Rodney Stahl were hittable going into the bottom of the fifth. That’s when Kannapolis scored its fourth run without the benefit of a hit.
Catcher Wally Rosa led off the fifth by walking. When Stahl misfired on a pickoff attempt, Rosa went all the way to third. The throw from the outfield sailed into the bleachers, allowing Rosa to chug home.
Everything looked rosy for Rosa and the Intimidators until Ulacia allowed the first three batters to reach in the seventh, scoring one run. Shines signaled in another lefty, reliever Steve Madril.
The Shorebirds immediately loaded the bases with no outs but Madril worked his way out of the jam as Delmarva managed just one more run.
“Madril came in and did a number for us,” said Shines. “Obviously, we were fortunate to get out of that giving up just one run.”
In the eighth, Delmarva threatened again but a pretty barehanded stop and throw of a bunt by Madril, and a sparking defensive play at shortstop by Reyes, snuffed that rally.
The Intimidators got the important fifth run in the bottom of the eighth. Casey Rogowski, who entered the game in the eighth, singled and scored on Michael Spidale’s RBI single.
Shines didn’t mind a four-hit win.
“We’re the type of team that some days, we have to make something happen,” he said of four stolen bases. “Today was one of those days.”
But in a league where a team could lose four straight as easily as winning four, this was a huge, huge win.
For confidence. And for the rest of the South Atlantic League to take notice.
“This was a big win for our ballclub,” said Shines, whose team now hits the road until next week. “I’m very pleased with how my kids performed.”
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NOTES: Joe Valentine came in to record the last out of the eighth and three more in the ninth for his second save. ... Delmarva outhit Kannapolis 10-4 but made three errors. ... The game was played in 88-degree sunshine. ... Kannapolis now goes to Lexington, Ky. for a four-game set. It returns home next Monday for four straight nights against Charleston, W.Va.
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