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KANNAPOLIS — The Intimidators’ Bambi lineup produced another thumper Saturday night.
This time it was slugging first-baseman Casey Rogowski who went deep in a critical 5-1 SAL victory over visiting Lexington.
“That’s three games in a row we’ve hit one out,” manager Razor Shines beamed after first-place Kannapolis (22-8) earned its eighth win in the past nine games. “Isn’t that nice to see? We could use a little power.”
A little is all the Intimidators have had this season. Rogowski’s home run — a two-run shot that cleared the right-field bullpen in the fifth inning — was his fourth of the year and the team’s 11th.
“I think we’re all starting to find our swings,” said Rogowski, who joined teammates Derek Wigginton and Joe Gillikin on this week’s home run list. “This may be just a hot streak, but we’ve all been pounding the ball lately. We’re waiting for our pitch right now and we’re getting results.”
This result gave Kannapolis a two-game lead over second-place Lexington (20-10) in the Northern Division standings. The Intimidators took three out of four decisions from Lexington and went 5-1 on the just-completed homestand.
“To be honest with you, it wouldn’t matter to me if it was Lexington, Delmarva or Charlie-West Virginia,” said Shines. “I feel good about winning, period.”
He should. The Intimidators submitted a neatly wrapped package that clearly pleased a Fireworks Night crowd of 4,224. They collected only seven hits against a trio of Lexington pitchers, but three of them went for extra bases.
“We’re not really surprised anymore,” said catcher Wally Rosa. “We know what we can do. Our mentality is to go out and play hard every day, because you never know when it’s going to be your last one.”
That they did it against Lexington starter Nick Roberts (2-1) was impressive. The 24-year-old right-hander blanked Kannapolis 2-0 on April 14 in the Bluegrass State.
“The difference between the game up there and tonight was we made him elevate the ball,” Shines reported. “We didn’t swing at too many balls down and out of the strike zone. All the credit in the world goes to (hitting coach) Kenny Dominguez for talking to the guys about what they were gonna try to do to us.”
The beneficiary of that conversation was Kannapolis starting pitcher Corwin Malone (3-1). The tall southpaw from Alabama scattered five hits and struck out seven in six uncluttered innings. Using a two-seam fastball that sliced away from right-handed batters and a sharp curve that broke inside, Malone was the master of his domain.
“I was attacking the plate,” he said. “I was throwing everything I had in the zone and around the plate. If they hit, they hit it. I said, ‘Here it is.’”
Malone may owe royalties to teammate Jim Sweeney, another lefty who baffled the Legends on Thursday.
“I know these guys are pull hitters and I saw how they couldn’t hit Sweeney’s breaking ball,” he said. “They tried to pull everything. So I figured I’d attack that weakness.”
Malone overcame a case of first-inning stomach cramps, when he yielded a one-out double by Felix Escalona and a run-scoring single by Brian Schmitt. “My stomach was killing me,” he said. “I think it was the cereal I ate before the game. The trainer gave me some Pepto-Bismol and I settled down.”
Rosa also had something to do with that. “We had the inside corner established,” he said. “That’s what we worked on in the bullpen. I told him to drive the ball through my mitt.”
Kannapolis tied the score 1-1 in the last of the first when John Lackaff walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Rogowski served a one-out single into right field. In the third teammate Chris Amador tripled past diving left-fielder John Topolski and scored on a fielder’s choice. The Intimidators’ third run crossed on Nilson Teilon’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly.
That set the stage for Rogowski’s clincher — a Ruthian blast that was in the books while it was still in the sky.
“It was a first-pitch fastball on the inside part of the plate,” he said. “I saw it all the way and made good contact. I think it really helped our momentum because it’s tough to play catch-up that late in the game.”
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NOTES: The Intimidators are idle today and begin an eight-game road trip Monday in Greensboro. They return home May 15 against Hickory. ... Amador went 2-for-3, scored twice and stole his eighth base of the season. Teammate Guillermo Reyes, the league’s third-leading hitter with a .336 average entering play, swiped his team-high 12th base in the seventh inning. ... Rogowski leads the team with 21 RBIs and is batting .320. ... UNC-Charlotte men’s basketball coach Bobby Lutz threw out one of the game’s first balls. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make an appearance at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium on May 25 during a live QVC broadcast happening while a game is being played.
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Contact David Shaw at sports@salisburypost.com
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