Kannapolis Drops Game 2 of Series with Hickory 9-6

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - On a night with no shortage of offense, the Kannapolis Intimidators fell to the Hickory Crawdads 9-6 in a late-night shootout at Intimidators Stadium supported by Atrium Health.
Kannapolis struck first in the bottom of the second inning with a Corey Zangari home run to right-center field off Hickory starter John King to give the Intimidators an early 1-0 lead.
One half-inning later, Matt Whatley notched the first Hickory run of the ballgame, bringing home Jose Almonte on a soft groundout to second base, knotting the score at 1-1.
The Intimidators quickly retained the lead via a Lenyn Sosa single off Crawdads starter John King to left field, plating Gunnar Troutwine to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Kannapolis lead did not last long, as Hickory put up five runs on five hits in a big top of the fifth inning for the Crawdads. After a walk and two singles, Whatley drew a walk with the bases loaded to tie the game 2-2.
One batter later, Tanner Gardner notched an RBI groundout to drive in Frainyer Chavez to to take a 3-2 lead. Curtis Terry followed Gardner with a 2-RBI double to center field. Terry then would cross the plate, being driven in by Sam Huff on a hard-hit single to center field, making it a 6-2 Crawdads advantage.
Despite eight strikeouts, Kannapolis starter Taylor Varnell struggled to keep the Crawdads off the base paths, giving up five earned runs and three walks over his 4.2 innings of work. RHP Jason Bilous (L, 0-1) entered in relief of Varnell, giving up four hits, three earned runs, and striking out three.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Intimidators found a rhythm at the plate against King when Ramon Beltre doubled to right field. After an Ian Dawkins strikeout, Sosa drilled a ground-rule double down the right-field line to bring home Beltre. Following Sosa's double, Hickory pulled King in favor of Wes Robertson. Though Robertson (W, 2-0) was credited with the win, he failed to change the momentum, giving up two straight RBI singles to Romy Gonzalez and Bryce Bush.
 Ramon Beltre launched the tying runs into left field in the top of the sixth, hitting a 2-run home run to left field off Robertson to tie the ballgame at 6-6.
Hickory refused to surrender, taking a 2-run lead in the top of the 7^th via Sam Huff's 14^th home run of the season, 8-6. In the eighth, the Crawdads added an insurance run with a Whatley RBI single off LHP Andrew Perez to right field to bring in Chavez.
Dylan Bice and Grant Anderson combined to close out the final two innings for the Crawdads, with Bice (H, 1) getting the hold and Anderson (S, 2) getting a 1-pitch save.
Kannapolis will look to rebound against Hickory on Sunday with first pitch set for 3:00 p.m. RHP Davis Martin will take the mound for the Intimidators with RHP Tim Brennan slated to start for the Crawdads.
Fans can purchase tickets for the Cinco De Mayo matchup with the Crawdads by visiting intimidatorsbaseball.com or stopping by the F&M Bank Box Office supported by Atrium Health.