Bats falter as RiverDogs drop series finale 3-1

Charleston, SC - The Charleston RiverDogs did not put a man on base during their final 12 at-bats in a 3-1 loss to the Kannapolis Ballers on Sunday evening at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The loss caused the RiverDogs to finish the 12-game homestand with a 7-5 record. The series finale was played in front of 4,719 fans, the largest crowd of the week.

Despite struggling at the plate for much of the day, the RiverDogs (23-23, 50-52) were the first team to reach the scoreboard. Edwin Barragan worked a one-out walk from Mason Adams in the bottom of the third inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Ryan Cermak pounded a base hit through the left side to hand the RiverDogs a 1-0 lead.

In the very next half inning, the Cannon Ballers (18-18, 53-48) answered to wrestle the lead away for good. Calvin Harris opened the frame with a base hit off Trevor Martin and Bryce Willits followed with a walk. Chris Lanzilli continued his torrid week at the plate with a double down the left field line that evened the score. Martin got Ryan McCarthy to line to second for the first out of the frame before departing in favor of Alex Cook. The reliever walked two of the first three batters he faced, forcing in the go-ahead run with the second base on balls.

The Kannapolis lead held at 2-1 until they added an insurance run in the eighth against Junior William. Drake Logan began that stanza with an infield single to short and moved to second on a wild pitch. Cristopher De Guzman advanced him to third with a sacrifice bunt, allowing him to score on an RBI double from Jacob Gonzalez.

The RiverDogs never threatened again, failing to register a hit after the fourth inning. The Cannon Ballers collected 12 hits over the course of the night, three each from Harris and Lanzilli. Cristopher Barete’s hitting streak ended at nine games in the defeat.

Martin worked the first 3.1 innings of the ballgame, taking the loss with two runs allowed. Gerlin Rosario continued his scoreless start to his time with the RiverDogs, tossing 3.0 solid frames with four strikeouts. Junior William worked the final 2.0 innings, allowing one run.