From Staff Reports

The Kannapolis Intimidators split a South Atlantic League doubleheader at Delmarva on Wednesday before making the 490-mile trip home from Salisbury, Maryland, for Thursday’s home opener against the Hickory Crawdads at CMC-NorthEast Stadium.

Kannapolis and the Shorebirds were rained out on Tuesday at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, prompting Wednesday’s doubleheader. The teams played two seven-inning games.

Delmarva scored three runs in the sixth inning and rallied to beat the Intimidators 4-2 in the first game. Jay Gonzalez had a two-run double to key the comeback.

Chris Curley put Kannapolis ahead with a two-run homer in the top of the third inning off winning pitcher John Means.  The homer was the first of the season for Curley.

Kannapolis starter Yency Almonte reached his pitch limit in the fourth inning. He struck out four.

Reliever Devon Davis (1-1) took the loss.

In the second game, Kannapolis starting pitcher Jordan Guerrero dominated for six shutout innings and keyed an 8-0 victory for a split of the doubleheader. The lefty, struck out 11 and fanned the side in the sixth.

Guerrero (1-0) has been sensational so far, with 17 strikeouts and 12 straight scoreless innings.

Kannapolis (3-4) backed up Guerrero with its best offensive showing of the season. The Intimidators had 14 hits, including three each by Brett Austin and Mason Robbins.

Toby Thomas hit his first homer and drove in four runs.

Austin hit his third triple of the season and scored on Thomas’ groundout for a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Thomas hit a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run double in the seventh.

For ticket information for Thursday’s home opener, call  (704) 932-3267.