Record
1-3 (last week)
58-51 (overall)
17-26 (second half)

The Cannon Ballers, your South Division First Half Champs, had another rough stretch. Their opponents were the Columbia Fireflies, an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, and the Charleston RiverDogs, an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs and Fireflies occupy first and second in the Carolina South division, while the Ballers have sunk to fifth. They are slowly eating away at that substantial first-half success, when they were 16 games better than .500.

August 11: Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5, Columbia Fireflies 0 (7 innings)
Ricardo Brizuela was terrific in his sixth start since being promoted from the ACL White Sox in July. Chicago signed the 21-year-old as a free agent last May. The righty was impressive, tossing five scoreless innings and surrendering no runs on three hits and two walks while striking out five. With the win, he improved his overall record to 3-2.

Luke Bell continued his arm barn dominance, blanking the Fireflies for two innings. Bell has been terrific out of the pen all season for the Ballers, giving up only 11 earned runs over 26 appearances. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Bell out of high school in Round 34 (No. 1,022) of the 2019 MLB Draft. The righthander chose to go to college instead and had gone undrafted when the Sox signed him last July. Luke’s grandfather is Buddy Bell, the longtime MLB player and manager.

Kanny led off the game, scoring two runs in the first inning. Jeral Perez doubled with one out, and after George Wolkow’s single, Alec Makarewicz doubled home Perez. Ronny Hernandez followed with a walk, and then a ground out by Arxy Hernández allowed Wolkow to score, giving the Ballers a 2-0 lead.

Drake Logan extended his hot streak in the top of the third with a long ball to center field, putting Kannapolis up, 3-0. The 23-year-old is slashing .387/.424/.839 with a 1.263 OPS in August. The Ballers added two more tallies, including a solo shot by Hernández in the sixth and an RBI double by Perez in the seventh.

Game MVP
Ricardo Brizuela (RHSP) 5 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K

August 11: Columbia Fireflies 2, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 1 (9 innings) (makeup game from August 6)
The Ballers took an early 1-0 lead in this contest on Lyle Miller-Green’s first round-tripper of the year. The Sox drafted the 23-year-old in Round 17 (No. 499) last month. The Russian-born first baseman has so far only played in five games for Kannapolis, but the “Sultan of Swat” has a fascinating backstory, which you can read more about here. He was a two-way player throughout college, although the Sox undoubtedly view his hitting side as much more valuable than his pitching one. At 6´5´´ and 237 pounds, Miller-Green has the potential for a lot of power in that bat — he hit .393 with 30 homers in his last collegiate season. Hopefully, it was the first of many bombs for the big fella.

Columbia tied it up in the bottom of the sixth, and the game remained 1-1 until the Fireflies walked it off in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch. This one was supposed to end after seven innings since the clubs played it as a back-to-back doubleheader. However, due to the tie, it continued on and, unfortunately, ultimately went Columbia’s way.

Kanny’s pitching was solid. Tyler Davis performed well in his first start, tossing three innings of one-hit ball. The pen gave up the game’s only two runs, and Carson Jacobs took the L in his sixth appearance for the Ballers.

Game MVP
Lyle Miller-Green (1B) 1-for-4, first professional HR

August 13: Charleston RiverDogs 3, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0
This one was a tough loss for the Ballers, as the pitching staff only surrendered one earned run. Still, they needed more than that, as they couldn’t manufacture any runs off of their five hits.

Tanner McDougal had a strong start after the clunker he tossed last time out. He gave up the only earned run of the game on two hits with one walk and six Ks. His K/9 continues to impress at 11.18, but it’s the walks that get him in trouble with a 5.65 BB/9. He needs to find a way to reduce the free passes, and he did much better in this contest, giving up only one.

The bullpen was equally effective, with Jesús Méndez blanking the Dogs and Daniel González giving up only one unearned tally over two innings apiece.

Sloppy defense was the biggest issue for the Ballers tonight. Both Ronny Hernandez and Arxy Hernández made fielding errors, which led to two unearned tallies.

The offense couldn’t string together much of anything. Ryan Burrowes led off the bottom of the first with a double, which was really the game’s biggest hit. They had a few singles and walks sprinkled throughout but never enough momentum to push a run across the plate.

Game MVP
Tanner McDougal (RHSP) 5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, BB, 6 K

August 14: Charleston RiverDogs 5, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 2
The Ballers’ offensive woes continued as they had only one earned run throughout the contest. Despite eight hits, they couldn’t put together enough consecutively to score. Alec Makarewicz had the lone RBI on a single in the bottom of the second. The other tally scored on a wild pitch in the ninth. George Wolkow went 2-for-3 with two singles and a walk.

Starter Carlton Perkins performed pretty well in his second start for Kannapolis. It was certainly an improvement over his last one, when he gave up five runs in two innings. He surrendered only one earned run here, although he gave up seven hits and one walk. The 21-year-old did strike out six batters to add to his impressive 10.84 K/9.

The bullpen arms of Luke Bell and Patrick Maybell did their part to keep it close, combining for one run on one hit and three walks over 3 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, Connery Peters struggled in the ninth as the Dogs added on two more runs, giving them more than enough to put this one away.

Game MVP
Luke Bell (RHRP) 1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K

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Tanner McDougal photo: Tanner McDougal Instagram