Autumn Dreamin

Barons finish the regular season with a 5-0 win over the Smokies. 14 hits as a team including multi-hit games from Turner, Gladney, Tatum, Goosenberg, and Matthews. Good sign, since they'll be facing off against the same staff in the first round of the playoffs starting Tuesday. In the meantime, 3U/3D with 2K for Sinibaldi in the first for Kanny.

Schoenle is shoving and DJ Gladney is slugging. Barons up 3-0 after 3, behind 8Ks(!!) from the former and 2 HR from the latter.

Free runner scored on a single top 11, putting Kanny down 1-0. Wolkow made a productive out to move their free runner to 3rd in the bottom half. AMak tapped one back to the pitcher, who made a bad throw to give up the tying run on an E1. 1-1 with 1 out, and AMak on 2nd after the error. McCants smacks a liner over the head of the LF to walk it off. Such a gutsy performance from the team to beat the reigning champs and head to the championship series! The pitching was actually insane, 17K combined for Peppers (5IP/5K), Hartzog (2IP/2K), Combs (2IP, 6K!!!), and McLaughlin (2IP, 4K). Intense energy all game and it was getting a little chippy toward the end (including the opposing manager getting ejected).

Kanny pitching has really showed up to keep the dream alive, but the bats just can't get over the hump. They strand runners on 2nd and 3rd, and it's still scoreless after 10.

Wild. Apparently he just wanted the season to be over.

McDougal gave up a 2 run shot in the 2nd and a walk>single>RBI double for a run in the 3rd. But he limited the damage with three straight K's to strand 2 RISP. Ryan Burrowes hit a go ahead 2R homer top 4. McDougal was fired up after a nifty DP and K in the bottom of the inning to hold the 4-3 lead. He's done for the night: 4IP, 6H, 3ER, 3BB, 6K. UDFA Clete Hartzog first out of the pen.

Kannapolis grabs a run early on a Wolkow single, McCants BB, and Ronny Hernandez RBI single. McDougal throwing 98-99, puts up a scoreless first on 11/14. 1-0 after 1.

He's been pretty good out of the Barons pen of late. <2 ERA, 13 K/9 in 10 games (13.2 IP) since August).

I think he's healthy.

Dash lost 7-4. Smith had a quick 13 pitch 2K first, but got tagged for 2 ER on 26 pitches in the second. Not the best BABIP luck. His final line ends up 2IP, 2ER, 3H, 1BB, 2K. Schultz also had a random snakebitten 2nd inning where he gave up 3R on 3 consecutive XBH. His final line was 3.2IP, 3R(1ER), 4H, 1BB, 5K. I thought they might have pulled him after the first out in the 4th at 63 pitches but he went one more batter to finish at 67. He gets a ND thanks to the bats and pen picking him up as the Barons win 6-4. DJ Gladney 2-4, Veras 1-5 with a 2B, and Camiletti 1-2 with 3 BB. Rikuu Nishida does not care about your EV metrics or prospect projections, and went 2-4 with a BB, SB and 2 runs scored. He played LF today. He has a hit in every AA game so far, and is 9-21 with 2 BB and 3 SB in total. He has yet to strikeout and is casually slap hitting his way to an OPS over .900. Gonzo went 1-3 with a big go ahead 3R homer that ended up the deciding swing. Pallette turned in another 2IP scoreless and got a W for his efforts. Still a 0 ERA at the level. Eric Adler gets save #7 after coming in to put out a bases loaded fire in the 8th and following up with a 3U/3D 9th.

Knights lost 8-4 despite outhitting Norfolk 13-8. 4 errors and 2-10 with RISP didn't help. Bush got tagged for 4 runs (3 earned) in the first. His velo seemed down a tick and he didn't return for the 2nd. They did come back to tie in the 3rd, so he gets a ND. On offense, Elko went 1-4, Perez went 3-4 with a 2B, and Montgomery stayed hot with a 3-4 day. 6 game hit streak for Colson. Josimar Cousin was nasty today, 5K in 2 scoreless innings.

All five levels started a lefty today, and I can't help but wonder when the last time that happened was. Unfortunately, all of them had a rough multirun inning that spoiled their lines. Sinibaldi (14th round) went 3IP, 2 ER, 5H, 2K for Kannapolis. Both runs in his last inning, on back to back RBI doubles. Fellow LHP Frankeli Arias gave a solid 3IP/2R (1ER) out of the pen and got the W in a 7-4 victory. Kanny bats are pretty hot, just in time for the playoffs next week. Antonacci went 2-5 with a 2B, Wolkow was 1-5 with a 2B (and reached 2 additional times on an error and a K), Jeral Perez went 2-3 with a HR and BB, and Arxy also hit a HR. Good to see that injury scare last week hasn't set him back. UDFA Clete Hartzog got his first save. Nice stuff. He's got 10K and an 0.75 WHIP in 8 IP at the level.

Bham completed the org sweep with a 4-1 win. Carela was solid again. 5IP, 1ER, 1BB, 5K. Nishida went 1-3 with a BB and knocked in his first RBI at the level. The Barons hit several balls hard today, but as a team they are on a streak of like 20+ hits without an XBH.

WS won 4-3 despite stranding a small village on the bases (3-14 RISP). Bockenstedt had good stuff today but got burned by 2ER. He went 4IP, 3ER, 3H, 1BB, 7K. Scoreless work from Seidl (2IP), Luke Bell (2IP) and UDFA Tyler Davis (1IP) in the pen. Saucke went 2-5 with a 2B and 2 RBI, Caden Connor was 2-5 with two 2B, and recent arrival Miguel Santos knocked in the GWRBI with his second hit of a 2-5 day. Small sample size means he has the fun slash line of .400/.400/.400 (4-10, all singles, no walks).

Kanny wins 7-3. 24yo LHP Nick Pinto (19th round) made his affiliate debut with Kannapolis. He was pretty good: 3IP, 0ER, 1H, 1BB, 3K. Manuel Veloz piggybacked with 4IP/1ER of relief. Jeral Perez has a very solid glove. He went 1-4 at the plate. AMak is maybe something. 2-4 today. Wolkow 1-5 with a RBI FC, McCants 1-5 with a 2B, Drake Logan 2-5 with a 2B, Antonacci 3-5 with a SB. His OPS is up to .926. 8th rounder Aaron Combs should have had his first save, but a 2 out error allowed the tying runs across in the 9th. Still no earned runs for him and he has 13K in 7.2IP. Bats scored 4 runs top 10 for the win.

Knights win 5-3. Burke was very good. Gave up a 2R HR but was never in much trouble otherwise: 5IP, 2ER, 5H, 1BB, 9K. 19 (!) whiffs, very effective slider. Colson 2-4 with a HR. He's having a great week, hope he finishes the year strong. Colas 1-4 with a HR. Elko 1-5, Hack and CSN both 2-4. Wilson had another scoreless rehab inning, McGough went 2 IP, 2H, 1ER, 3K, and my guy Adisyn Coffey got save #9.

WS wins 4-0 behind a great pitching/defensive effort: Batista: 5 IP, 3H, 0 ER, 1BB, 6K. His AA ERA is 1.04. 1IP scoreless for Carson Jacobs and Tommy Vail 2IP, 1H, 3K for Jarold Rosado (DeJong trade). His ERA is 1.84. Galanie went 2-3 with a BB, 2B, and HR. Miguel Santos (UDFA) was 2-5 with a RBI in his debut.

4IP, 2 ER, 6K for Eder. He only gave up 2 hits, but both were solo shots. Seemed like he was throwing the change more to decent results (14 whiffs) but 5 BB cut the outing short. Knights won 4-2. Colson 1-4, Ramos 1-3 with a 2B and walk, Elko 1-4 with a 2B and walk. Oh and Moncada (lol) 3-5 with a HR. Scoreless work from the pen, including Wilson on rehab, Peralta, and Coffey (is for closers) who recorded his 8th save.

Single up the middle for Nishida in his first AB

A few roster moves in addition to the Nishida promotion: C Weston Eberly, who got called up from WS to Charlotte with the Quero IL trip, heads down to Bham Hackenberg heads from Bham to Charlotte to take his spot Smith-Njigba also up to Charlotte 15th rounder Mason Moore joins Kanny UDFA 2B Miguel Santos takes Nishida's spot in WS

Nishida AA debut 😍