(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
KANNAPOLIS, NC: Tanner Smith clubbed a second-inning homer to open the scoring, and the GreenJackets never looked back as they steamrolled the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 8-0 on Friday night.
Smith’s home run was a three-run shot off of starter Caedmon Parker in the top of the second, and was Smith’s seventh of the year. Parker walked Dallas Macias to begin the inning and issued a base hit to Hayden Friese before Smith’s long ball put Augusta up by a handful.
The lead would be all Augusta (28-21) needed, as an old friend took the mound and shut down the Kannapolis (25-24) offense. Herick Hernandez came down from AA Columbus on an MiLB Rehab Assignment, and was as good in his return as he had been for the Clingstones. Hernandez scattered two hits in 3.2 scoreless innings, working quickly and confidently in his return to play.
The Jackets pulled away in the fourth, chasing Parker after tagging him for career highs in hits, walks, and runs allowed. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Parker walked Alex Lodise and Conor Essenburg before Luis Guanipa rocketed a line drive into right that scored them both. Guanipa came home one pitch later, as Juan Mateo flicked a base hit to center on the final toss of Parker’s day.
The Jackets did their final bit of scoring in the fifth against Carlton Perkins, spoiling the righty’s first outing with Kannapolis this year. Like Parker, Perkins fell apart with two outs, beginning with a triple from Smith. Smith then came home on an error from Efren Teran, before a Lodise walk and Essenburg single scored the team’s eighth and final tally of the night.
From the fifth inning on, it was all Landon Beidelschies, who carved through a demoralized Cannon Baller offense to pick up his second consecutive win. Pitching in relief for the first time as a pro, Beidelschies smoothly sailed through his first couple of innings before dodging traffic in both the seventh and eighth to keep Kannapolis off the board. Adrian Gil did hit a solo homer in the ninth to break up the shutout, but Beidelschies still ended the game with ease to pick up the victory.
The Jackets have now won three games in a row against a team that had won eight in a row immediately prior, and have forced the Ballers to go deeper into their bullpen reserves than they would usually like. After being so thin that they had to use a position player on the mound Friday, the Ballers will entrust Saturday’s start to Riley Eikhoff, who leads the league in innings, to get the team back on track against Zach Royse and the GreenJackets.
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