One Step Closer; Tourists Start Road Trip with 6-1 Win

Asheville’s magic number to clinch a playoff berth dropped to three on Tuesday night as the Tourists knocked off the Kannapolis Intimidators 6-1 in the series opener.

Asheville jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.

In the top of the first inning, the first four Tourists hitters all recorded base hits. Ryan McMahon doubled in Raimel Tapia to open the scoring and Correlle Prime followed with a two-run double. Later in the inning, Jose Briceno drove in Prime with a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield. Asheville held a 4-0 lead before Kannapolis even picked up a bat.

Advertisement

That was more than enough cushion for the South Atlantic League’s reining Player of the Month, Antonio Senzatela. Asheville’s starting pitcher went into cruise-control mode right from the start. Senzatela kept the Intimidators off balance by mixing up his fastball and change-up beautifully with an occasional curve-ball. The Valencia, Venezuela native spun seven innings, scattered five hits, and allowed only one run while striking out six.

Jordan Patterson doubled to lead off the sixth and scored on Dillon Thomas’ RBI double. After the Intimidators scraped across a run in the seventh, Asheville answered with one in the ninth. Prime hit an RBI double to score McMahon.

Senzatela ran his record to 14-2 with the win. Offensively, Raimel Tapia led the way with three hits. Prime, McMahon, Thomas, and Zach Osborne all chipped in with two hits apiece.

Asheville and Kannapolis square off again on Wednesday night with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm. The Tourists hold the edge on the season series as they have won eight of the nine meetings between the two teams.