From staff and wire reports
The Kannapolis Intimidators’ seven-game winning streak ended Tuesday night with a 5-3, 11-inning loss to Lexington at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium. The I’s (9-4) had beaten Lexington the night before in extra innings.Dale Mollenhaer singled to right to score Christian Marrero with the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, forcing extra innings with the score tied at 3. Mollenhauer also tripled home the game’s first run in the fifth and scored to put Kannapolis ahead 2-0 going into the sixth.
Reliever Tyson Corley fell to 0-3 for the I’s, giving up two runs in the top of the 11th.
– Minor leagues
Spencer Steedley (East Rowan) picked up a Midwest League win in Beloit’s 7-5 victory against Clinton.
Steedley (4-3, 2.28 ERA) pitched the final 3 1/3 innings. He allowed two hits, struck out three batters and didn’t give up a run. Beloit scored twice in the sixth to pull ahead 6-5, and it added a run in the seventh.
* Bobby Parnell (East Rowan) won his seventh straight decison for Binghamton in the Eastern League on Monday.
Parnell (8-4, 4.04 ERA) pitched 62/3 innings and allowed four hits and two runs in a 7-3 victory against Altoona. Parnell walked one and struck out five.
* David Thomas (Catawba) went 0-for-2 but drew two walks for the Oakland Athletics’ Arizona League team in its 6-5 win against the Angels’ squad Tuesday. Thomas is still batting .556 in four games with the club.
* Brett Bartles (A.L. Brown) went 2-for-5 with one RBI for Billings in an 8-3 Pioneer League win against Great Falls on Monday.
– Division II polls
Catawba’s football team is ranked in several preseason polls, including those produced by USA Today (11th), Lindy’s (15th) and The Sporting News (19th).
Carson-Newman is ranked seventh in USA Today, 12th in The Sporting News and 13th in Lindy’s.
The Sporting News and USA Today rank Grand Valley State No. 1 nationally, while Lindy’s has Valdosta State on top.
Newberry is ranked 20th in Lindy’s.
The SAC’s annual football media day will be held at the Holiday Inn in Salisbury on July 18.
– Conference changes
Gardner-Webb is officially in the Big South Conference.
The small, private school on Tuesday began its full-fledged membership in the Charlotte-based league. Each of the Big South’s full members are located in North Carolina, South Carolina or Virginia. Nineteen of Gardner-Webb’s 21 varsity teams will compete in the league, and all are immediately eligible for the Big South’s championships and postseason berths.
Gardner-Webb has been an associate member of the Big South for football since 2002. The school also had been a member of the Atlantic Sun since that year.
* The Southern Conference officially welcomed Samford as its 12th member Tuesday.
The school had been in the Ohio Valley Conference the past five years. Samford’s first Southern Conference competition takes place Sept. 26 when its women’s soccer team hosts Elon. The football team faces Elon the next day in the program’s first league game.
– China Grove all-stars
China Grove’s 9-year-old Cal Ripken League all-stars finished second in the area tournament and qualified for the state tournament.
Thad Chrismon, Joe Hubbard and Steve Norton are the coaches.
The state event starts July 11.
– East all-stars
The East Rowan 11-12 Little League All-Stars defeated Kernersville 6-4 and Walkertown 8-3 over the weekend.
At Kernersville, Colton Laws had two hits and Dustin Ritchie had a home run and two RBIs for East. Against Walkertown in Faith, Laws homered and had two hits, and winning pitcher Hunter Brooks also produced two hits.
East plays Davie American on Thursday at the Southwest Forsyth Little League Complex.
– GARS
Sixty-three GARS members played at McCanless on Monday.
Low ‘A’ flight player was Frank Masingo with a net of 57.85.
Low ‘B’ player was Cliff Cutrell with a net of 58.81.
Low ‘C’ player was Ben Moore with a net of 59.90.
Low ‘D’ player with a net of 62.03 was Pete Robertson.