Durham 4, Charlotte 2
Chris Beck turned in a quality start, allowing three runs in six innings, and struck out six en route to a loss. But his offense couldn’t get anything going despite every starter, sans Jared Mitchell, reaching base. Dan Black had the only RBI off a solo shot in the fourth inning and Jeremy Dowdy had a double, but otherwise the Knights couldn’t string together enough hits as they left 10 men on base. As for Mitchell, he struck out four times and will likely be out of the organization at the abysmal rate he’s going.
Birmingham 8, Penascola 4
Jacob May, Tim Anderson and Courtney Hawkins put on a show atop the Barons’ lineup, with each of the players getting two hits. Hawkins went 2-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Every starter outside of Joey DeMichele had at least a hit and unlike the Knights, the Barons were able to put runs on the board. Adrian Nieto displayed his new found paitence and went 1-1 with a single and three walks. Starter Mark Blackmar allowed eight hits over 4.2 innings before being relieved by former starter J.B. Wendelken, who got the win in 2.1 innings of work. Nolan Sanburn got the two-inning save and struck out three. Anderson recorded his first two errors of the season, with defense being his biggest question mark.
Winston-Salem 5, Carolina 1
Matt Heidenreich continued his return to the White Sox farm system with another win. Heidenreich, drafted in the 4th Round of the 2009 draft, was traded in 2012 for Brett Myers and was released by the Astros this past offseason. Heidenreich went five innings, allowed five hits and one run. Trey Michalczewski and Cleuluis Rondon led the way with two hits apiece, with Rondon showing surprising power by hitting a double and as many homers in one game as he did all of last year (the answer is one homer). Keenyn Walker went 1-3 with an RBI and was caught stealing.
West Virginia 5, Kannapolis 3
Luis Martinez gave up three runs in a losing effort over 4.2 frames while walking two and striking out four. The offense totaled 10 hits with Christian Stringer going 3-4 with a double, Toby Thomas going 2-3 with two RBIs and Michael Suiter going 1-4 with a home run. Eddy Alvarez was 1-3 with a walk and Brett Austin went 0-0 with two walks on the same day as his college roommate Carlos Rodon made his MLB debut for the White Sox.
Kannapolis 2, West Virginia 1
Yency Almonte went four innings and only allowed one run in the second game of the day against the Power. Almonte struck out three. Chris Curley went 2-3 with a double and both of the teams’ RBIs, Mason Robbins went 1-3 and Eddy Alvarez went 1-3 with a stolen base. Peter Tago recorded a two inning save while striking out two.
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