Backed by a career-day from Hickory's Tyler Phillips and three solo home runs, the Crawdads blanked the Intimidators 3-0 Tuesday night at LP Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. The fourteenth best prospect in the Rangers organization, Phillips, had his way with the Intimidators lineup all night long, striking out
Backed by a career-day from Hickory's Tyler Phillips and three solo home runs, the Crawdads blanked the Intimidators 3-0 Tuesday night at LP Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina.
The fourteenth best prospect in the Rangers organization, Phillips, had his way with the Intimidators lineup all night long, striking out the side in three of the seven innings he tossed to cap off a 13-strikeout performance.
Although the night belonged to Phillips, Kannapolis' Drew Harrington looked solid on the mound through 3.2 innings, inducing three double plays after each leadoff hitter reached on a single. But, with two outs in the fourth inning, Tyreque Reed cranked his 12th homer of the season to left-center, giving Phillips and the 'Dads a 1-0 lead.
After Harrington got the first out in the fifth inning, Matt Whatley, who was just brought down from Down East (A-Advanced), golfed the fourth slider of his at-bat down the left field line, increasing the Hickory lead to two runs on two solo shots.
Two innings later, in the seventh, RHP Luis Ledo replaced Harrington on the hill for Kannapolis, giving up a solo homer to Pedro Gonzalez on the first pitch of the at-bat, giving Hickory a three-run edge over Kannapolis.
The Intimidators saw their best chance to score come in the seventh and final inning for Phillips on the hill, as Tate Blackman hit his second single of the day, followed by a Tyler Frost double down the right field line to put runners at second and third with no outs. With the bottom of the lineup due up next after the two Kannapolis batters reached, Michael Hickman, Ramon Beltre and Evan Skoug all struck out, capping off the dominant performance by Phillips.
RHP Josh Advocate finished off the Intimidators with three strikeouts between the eighth and ninth innings to keep the shutout for Hickory.
The Intimidators will be back in Hickory tomorrow to take on the Crawdads for a double header starting at 5:00 p.m. at LP Frans Stadium, as LHP Parker Rigler (6-5, 4.35 ERA) will take on Hickory's RHP Reid Anderson (5-6, 3.40 ERA) before game two between RHP Jhoan Quijada (1-3, 4.76 ERA) and RHP Alex Eubanks (5-5, 6.45 ERA).
