KANNAPOLIS — A not so funny thing happened to the Kannapolis Intimidators on Wednesday en route to a series sweep of the Lexington Legends.

After being shut down for seven innings by Kannapolis starter Spencer Adams, the Legends rallied for one in the eighth and two in the ninth to pull out a 4-3 getaway victory at CMC-NorthEast stadium.

Designated hitter Kyle Pollock gapped a two-run double to deep right with one out in the ninth off Intimidator closer Jefferson Olacio to complete the comeback. Kannapolis (21-25) put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth but a strikeout, the team’s 13th of the game closed it out.

Intimidator manager Tommy Thompson did not try to sugarcoat the outcome for his team.

“We just gave it away,” he said afterwards. “You have got to play the whole game plus we made too many errors both physical and mental. We also had too many opportunities to score early and didn’t capitalize.”

It was a split personality type game as Kannapolis dominated early with three runs, three double plays and three-hit pitching by Adams, the 19-year-old second-round pick out of high school in Georgia. He went a career long seven innings and ended his stint with a 94 mph strikeout pitch to close the seventh up 3-1.

“The outcome of the game was definitely not what I wanted,” Adams said, “but I was happy with my performance. I gave up a couple of walks after being ahead 1-2 or 0-2, but overall I did a lot of good stuff I can build on.”

The Legends (20-26) started their comeback with an unearned run in the eighth off reliever David Trexler on a walk, an errant pickoff throw and a wild pitch. In the top of the ninth, a bad hop single and an error on a dropped throw to second set the stage for Pollock’s go ahead double.

Kannapolis jumped out 1-0 in the third on back to back singles by Michael Danner and Christina Stringer. Two more runs scored in the fifth on James Baldwin’s triple followed by another RBI single by Stringer and a wild pitch. But the Intimidators left the bases loaded to waste a potential big inning.

Over the next three innings, however, the game became all about Lexington reliever David Straha. He faced 10 batters, walked one and struck out nine, including the last eight Intimidators in a row. It earned him the win with Evan Beal pitching the ninth for the save.

“He’s has got a real good fastball,” Thompson said of Straham, “but we just did not do a good job of making adjustments with him. We have just got to be able to put those kind of games away.”

The Intimidators left after the game Wednesday night for a four-game series in Hagerstown followed by three at the Greenville Drive. The team returns home June 4 against the Delmarva Shorebirds.

 

Lexington 000 001 012 — 4 6 2

Kannapolis 001 020 000 — 3 5 4

WP — Matt Strahm (2-1)

LP — Jefferson Olacio (0-1), (BS, 1)

S — Evan Beal (2)