Despite a four-run first, the Charleston RiverDogs fell 14-7 to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Wednesday night, in front of 3,541 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Kannapolis jumped out early with five runs in the top of the first, highlighted by a bases-clearing double from Adrian Gil.
Charleston answered right back in the bottom of the inning when Victor Mesa Jr. launched a solo home run, and Daniel Pierce followed later with a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 5-4.
The Cannon Ballers added three more in the second on RBI knocks from Rylan Galvan and Alexander Albertus to stretch the lead to 8-4.
Kannapolis continued to build from there, scoring once in the third before twice in the fourth on back-to-back bases-loaded walks.
Charleston got one back in the bottom of the fourth when Logan Driscoll doubled to right field, bringing home Derek Datil to make it 11-5.
In the seventh, Kannapolis broke it open again, scoring three more runs to make it 14-5.
The RiverDogs showed some late life in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two runs on an RBI single from Datil and an RBI groundout from Larry Martinez, capping scoring at 14-7.
With the loss, Charleston fell to 21-14 while Kannapolis moved to 15-20. With Hickory’s loss to Columbia tonight, the RiverDogs still hold a three-game lead for first place in the Carolina League South Standings.
The two clubs return to The Joe tomorrow for game three of the series with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:50 on MiLB.TV and the RiverDogs Broadcast Network.
Ballpark Fun
Wednesday at The Joe was unlike any other, and the cats made sure of it.
It started at the front gate, where a litter of kittens had fans grinning before they even got to their seats. Inside, the ballpark was taken over. Cats on leashes, cats in carriers, and one very distinguished cat arriving by stroller that had everyone in awe. The video board kept the energy going with a reel of funny cat videos.
Wiener Wednesday never missed a beat. Two hot dogs for fifty cents, hot dog costumes spotted throughout the stands, and a packed, electric crowd that was into every single moment of it.
During the in-between inning hot dog race, Charlie turned into a linebacker, tackling one of the hot dogs to cut down it’s early lead.