Intimidators Media Relations

KANNAPOLIS — It was Antonio Rodriguez night at Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare system. Mere hours after his walk-off double in game one of a doubleheader, Rodriguez did it again to give the Kannapolis Intimidators a 1-0, eight-inning win over the Delmarva Shorebirds.

Rodriguez RBI single in the eighth, was part of a 3-for-4 night for the right fielder that included a double.

The game was locked in a scoreless tie, with both team’s pitching staffs trading zeros for seven and a half innings.

Intimidators starter Luis Martinez worked five shutout innings while scattering five hits, walking one, and striking out seven.

Martinez was tested by the Shorebirds in the top of the fifth. Drew Turbin led off the inning with a double to left and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ricardo Andujar, Martinez stranded Turbin at third after the righty punched out Cedric Mullins for the second out and got Ryan Mountcastle to pop out to short.

Shorebird’s starting pitcher Christian Alvarado matched Martinez with six shutout innings of his own, while striking out six and walking none.   

In the bottom of the fourth, the Intimidators threated when KJ Woods singled and Rodriguez doubled high off the wall in right to leadoff the inning. Alavarado then struck out back-to-back Intimidators looking, and retired Daniel Gonzalez on fly out to center to end the rally.

Dylan Barrow kept the Shorebirds scoreless with two perfect innings of relief and was followed with another perfect inning of relief from Taylore Cherry. The Intimidators bullpen retired all nine men they faced, with Cherry (1-2) earning his first win of the year.

The deadlock was finally broken in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Sullivan and Danny Mendick worked leadoff walks against Delmarva reliever Patrick Baker. Baker (2-2) settled down to strike out Landon Lassiter, and retired Woods on a pop out to third for the second out of the inning. Rodriguez followed five pitches latter with his second walk-off hit of the night, a single to center just past the Turbin at second to score Sullivan for the winning run.

The Intimidators have taken the first two games of the series and will look for the series win Saturday night. Kannapolis has not won a series since taking 2-of-3 from the Charleston Riverdogs June 2-4 in Chalreston.

The Intimidators continue the seven game home stand with game three of this four game series against the Delmarva Shorebirds on Saturday night at 7:05 pm. Kannapolis will send LHP Johnathan Frebis (4-6, 4.96 ERA) to the mound against Delmarva’s LHP Brian Gonzalez (5-3, 2.51 ERA).

FIRST GAME

The Intimidators rallied for two runs in the eighth inning to force extras en route to a 3-2 win in 11th innings over Delmarva in the completion of a suspended game on Friday at Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare System. With a runner on first base an no outs in the 11th, Antonio Rodriguez doubled to the gap in right-center field, scoring Seby Zavala from first base for the winning run.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Tyler Sullivan legged out a double on a bloop into left-center field, and Landon Lassiter drew a walk to bring KJ Woods, a former Marlins farmhand who signed with the White Sox last week, to the plate. Woods welcomed himself to the Intimidators with an RBI single, and Zavala followed with a single behind the third baseman to score Lassiter, tying the game, 2-2. 

Yelmison Peralta (1-4) earned the win with a scoreless 11th inning on the mound.  Elias Pinales (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season.

Brannon Easterling allowed one run over 4.0 innings before play was halted on Thursday.  He struck out one and walked one in his fourth start of the season. Intimidators reliever Drew Hasler spun a pair of scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, limiting Delmarva to two hits while retiring six of the eight batters he faced.  Alex Katz allowed a run in the seventh and got into trouble in the eighth before Jack Charleston rescued Kannapolis from a bases loaded, one-out jam.

Delmarva reliever Mike Burke took over on the mound when the game resumed and spun 3 and 1/3 scoreless innings and limited Kannapolis to one hit and two walks while striking out three.  Christian Turnipseed took over two men in scoring position and two outs in the seventh inning and worked the Shorebirds out of the jam to keep Kannapolis scoreless.

On Saturday night, the Intimidators are hosting Star Wars Night with post-game fireworks presented by the SpringHill Suites in Concord.  For tickets and promotional information, call the F&M Bank Box Office or 704-932-3267 or visit IntimidatorsBaseball.com.