Kannapolis, N.C. – Caden Bodine notched four hits and finished a double shy of the cycle as the Charleston RiverDogs completed a thrilling 10-9 win over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Thursday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.
The four knocks and three runs batted in all set career highs for Bodine, who now leads the Carolina League with 27 hits and a .409 batting average.
Charleston opened scoring early pushing across six runs over the game’s first four innings, highlighted by an RBI single from Derek Datil in the second and an RBI triple off the bat of Cooper Flemming in the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kannapolis began its comeback bid, rallying for one in the fourth and three in the fifth, cutting the deficit to 6-4.
After another Bodine RBI single tacked on another run in the top of the sixth, the Cannon Ballers teamed up for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 9-7 lead.
Charleston’s deficit didn’t last long as they knotted the game on a bases-loaded walk to Jose Monzon and wild pitch that scored Brailer Guerrero.
Still even at 9-9 in the top of the eighth, Bodine stepped to the plate and blasted a solo shot to right that gave Charleston a 10-9 lead.
After Dylan Lesko provided a scoreless eighth, Yereny Teus delivered a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the save in his season debut.
With the win, Charleston moved to 10-8 while Kannapolis fell to 5-13. The two return the Atrium Health Ballpark tomorrow for game four of the series with first pitch slated for 7:00 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the RiverDogs Broadcast Network.