KANNAPOLIS— The Kannapolis Intimidators were the stuff that legends are made of on Friday.
Kannapolis stuffed the visiting Lexington Legends like late, great legend Wilt Chamberlain once stuffed basketballs. The final on Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium’s not exactly unbiased scoreboard read: Good Guys 13, Bad Guys 2.
The South Atlantic League baseball game was billed as a first-place showdown between teams that entered the no-contest in a flat-footed tie. And in a way it was. The Intimidators certainly showed; the Legends sure looked down.
The Intimidators have won two of three in the current four-game series that concludes tonight. Kannapolis (21-8) has won four of seven on the season against Lexington (20-9), a Houston Astros farm club that appears to be the only Northern Division team that can compete with Razor Shines’ Intimidators.
Kannapolis scored in seven of the eight innings in which it batted, peppering the scoreboard with a steady barrage of 1s and 2s, then turning the game into a laugher with a five-run eighth.
It was a good night for everyone in Kannapolis colors, as the home team cracked 17 hits, including four doubles, two triples and a rare homer.
Shortstop Guillermo Reyes and first baseman Casey Rogowski, both .300 hitters, kept rolling with two hits apiece.
Outfielder Darren Ciraco, who’s really gotten hot of late, had three hits, including a two-run triple, and drove in four.
Third baseman John Lackaff, who had gone from torrid to horrid and was down to .211 at game-time, worked two walks and scored three runs.
Derek Wigginton and Humberto Quintero added two hits each, as all nine on the lineup card scored at least once.
And the guy who may have needed a good game more than anyone also got one. That would be Joe Gillikin, signed after the season started as catching insurance.
Gillikin’s job is one of those Maytag-repairman ones. With the rifle-armed Quintero the regular behind the plate, Gillikin is rarely called upon. But last night he got a shot as the designated hitter.
Gillikin, a fireplug who hails from Yukon, Oklahoma, has intimidating forearms, but entered last night with a .200 batting mark, seven RBIs and no homers. But Gillikin added 29 points to his average and boosted his RBI total to 10 with a two-run double and a solo homer leading off the fourth.
No one thought his homer had enough legs to go, but it cleared the left-center barrier, dropping into an area that was immediately renamed “Gillikin’s Island.”
Gillikin became only the fifth Intimidator to homer this season, joining Lackaff, Wigginton, Rogowski and Chris Amador.
Despite their lofty perch in the standings, the Intimidators have belted just 10 homers. That pace places them 15th in the 16-team SAL. Lexington has smacked a league-leading 27.
Kannapolis pitcher Dario Ferrand, who must have thought Christmas had arrived in May, also got a boost. Ferrand entered the action with numbers that made you worry for the safety of his infielders. Foes were hitting .326 against Ferrand , who was 0-3 with an ERA of 5.32. By way of comparison, three Intimidator starters have ERAs of 2.13 or better.
But this time Ferrand was tough, tossing six innings of four-hit ball for his icebreaker win.
Just one more thing for Intimidator opponents to fret about.
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NOTES: There will be a fireworks show after tonight’s game. ... West Rowan basketball star Terris Sifford was on hand.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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