KANNAPOLIS — A dramatic pinch-hit home run by Michael Suiter in the eighth inning should have given the Kannapolis Intimidators a happy ending Saturday. But it was just not enough.

The Lakewood BlueClaws scored twice in the top of the ninth inning and made it stand as they pulled out a 9-7 win. Herlis Rodriquez and Damek Tomscha came through with the clutch two out hits off Intimidator reliever David Trexler to produce the win. It capped a stellar night for Tomscha as he went four for five with three runs batted in.

The hero role seemed to go to Suiter in the bottom of the eighth inning when he came on as a pinch hitter with two runners on and two outs. Kannapolis trailed 7-4 at the time and only had five hits to that point. But Suiter, a native of Hawaii, towered a high homer to dead left field to knot the score at 7-7 and send the crowd of 4,100 fans into a frenzy. But the euphoria only lasted a half inning as the BlueClaws retook the lead for good.

“I was just thinking about seeing the ball and having a quality at bat,” Suiter stated. “But it was a really good pitch to hit.”

It was his second of the season playing in a part-time role in the outfield.

The top of the ninth went quickly south for the Intimidators after Trexler recorded two quick outs. Jiandid Tromp singled to left and went to second on a wild pitch. Rodriguez, the designated hitter, then smashed a hot-shot single down the first base line to make it 8-7. Tomscha added icing to the cake with a double down the left field line.

“We did a lot of things to come back then we just kind of let it get out of hand, ” Kannapolis manager Tommy Thompson said of the late innings dramatics. “Then we made a base running blunder to end the game which was very disappointing.”

Thompson referred to the end of the game sequence where Kannapolis had two runners on after a bunt single by Christian Stringer and a Ryan Leonards walk. But an ill-fated double steal attempt ended the game as Leonards was caught in a 1-3-6 pickle for the final out.

Kannapolis led 2-0 in the early innings then Lakewood tied it up in the fourth at 2-2. The Blue Claws then pounced on Kannapolis starter Spencer Adams for three runs on four hits in the top of the fifth to go up 5-2. The Intimidators cut it to 5-4 with a pair of runs in the bottom half on singles by Toby Thomas and James Baldwin plus a sac fly by Stringer.

Single runs in the sixth and eighth by Lakewood pushed the lead back to 7-4 to set the stage for Suiter’s heroics.

Lakewood 010 131 012 — 9 15 3

Kannapolis 200 020 030 — 7 7 2

WP — Alexis Rivero (2-0). LP — David Trexler (0-1). HR – Kan: Michael Suiter (2).