May 13, 2014 – Hagerstown Suns 3, Kannapolis Intimidators 1 – Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown)

Rare daygame, not-so-rare victory

Umpires: HP: Randy Rosenberg. 1B: Brad Polk.

Weather: 71 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 4 mph, R to L.

T: 2:21.

Att: 1,280.

Section 3, Row K, Seat 1 – It was Eats 4 Seats Tuesday, so by bringing a nonperishable food item (2 cans of corn in my case, which seemed fitting for a baseball game), I was able to get a general admission ticket for the bargain price of $4.00. Since it promised to be a hot day (it topped 90 in DC), I joined almost everybody else in sitting in the covered grandstand behind home plate. Grabbed an aisle seat in the section directly behind home plate, with a great view despite being one row from the top.

Hagerstown schedules very few day games – even their Sunday games don’t start until 5:05 – so it was good to get to this one which started at 10:35 am, probably the earliest professional baseball game I have ever attended. Quite a few cars in the parking lot when I arrived (plus school buses, since it was also “Education Day”). The ticket purchase line was short but extremely slow. No free programs (unlike Bowie and Frederick), but the programs did come with printed sheets that included up-to-date stats, rosters, and lineups. Eats were pretty cheap as well – wound up getting a $3 bottle of Pepsi (20 oz.) and a decent $6 pulled pork sandwich.

The game itself was a briskly-moving pitchers duel between Kannapolis’s Jake Sanchez and Nats #8 prospect Jake Johansen. Kannapolis plated a run in the top of the first, but Hagerstown tied it in the fourth on a homer by aptly-named catcher Spencer Kieboom, and went ahead two innings later when Sanchez threw past first base on an infield single by Suns first baseman Jimmy Yezzo, allowing DH John Wooten to score from second. The Suns added an insurance run in the eighth on doubles by Wooten and Yezzo.

The win pushed Hagerstown’s record to 29-8 (eat your heart out Nats). Many of the players (as well as the manager) moved up from last year’s Gulf Coast League team, which finished with a ridiculous 49-9 record.

Tall pitchers department -- the Suns have 3 right-handed pitchers listed at 6-6: Johansen, Ryan Ullman (who pitched innings 6-8 and got the win on Tuesday), and top prospect Lucas Giolito.

Managerial trivia – Suns manager Patrick Anderson grew up in Silver Spring and attended Paint Branch High School. The Intimidators are managed by Pete Rose Jr.