CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Salem Outduels Myrtle 2-1

Published on May 6, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Salem, VA - The Pelicans out-hit Salem 8-3 and the Myrtle Beach starter set down 21 of the 22 Red Sox he faced, but Salem still found a way to prevail 2-1 behind Peter Hissey and a trio of lefthanders in front of 4,266 at LewisGale Field. Pelican southpaw Robbie Erlin retired the final 20 Red Sox he faced in seven one-hit innings, but the lone blemish to his otherwise brilliant stat-line was a long-ball served up to Hissey in the first. Thanks to masterful work from Chris Hernandez and Mitch Herold, Salem maintained the slim lead all night long and added an insurance run in the eighth to make it 2-0. The Pelicans scratched an unearned run in the ninth and brought the tying run to third base with two outs, but Cesar Cabral induced a ground-out to short from Santiago Chirino, securing his seventh save and Salem's 19th win in 26 tries this season.

Both starters absolutely dazzled. Erlin struck out eight and did not walk anybody, yet still got tagged with the tough-luck loss. Hernandez earned the W, improving to 3-1 and lowering his ERA to 2.10 with six scoreless innings, in which he surrendered four singles and one walk, but struck out four. The Salem southpaw induced nine ground-outs, including a pair of double plays that helped minimize Myrtle's offense.

In the top of the seventh, the Pelicans put multiple runners on base for the first time when Michael Olt and Zach Zaneski greeted reliever Mitch Herold with back-to-back singles to begin the inning. Herold calmly navigated and escaped the jam, however, retiring the next three Pelican batters in order. Herold then set down the side 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth.

Salem scored a monumentally important tally in the last of the eighth to double its lead. Shannon Wilkerson lofted a double down the right-field line to lead off and moved to third on Ronald Bermudez' ground-out. With the infield in, Michael Almanzar's pop-up into shallow right fell in for a hit, scoring Wilkerson and giving the Red Sox a 2-0 edge.

That run proved to be the difference as Myrtle Beach broke up the shutout in the ninth. Jared Prince singled home Mitch Hilligoss, who reached via a throwing error from Cabral on a leadoff bunt. The Pelicans had the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at first with two away, but Santiago Chirino's bounding chopper up the middle was fielded cleanly by Derrik Gibson, who threw out Chirino at first in a close play to clinch the Red Sox victory.

The only scoring in the first seven innings came off the bat of center-fielder Peter Hissey, who crushed his second professional homer, his first of 2011, off Erlin in the bottom of the first. The towering fly left the park without a doubt, but that would be the entirety of Salem's offensive output against the Pelican starter, who set down the next 20 Sox in order.

Regardless, the Red Sox dodged Pelican bullets and held Myrtle Beach to one hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position to snag their second straight one-run victory over the Birds. Salem is now 7-1 in one-run results this season.

Having increased the division lead to three games over Myrtle Beach, Salem's assured of at least a series split as the two teams reunite on Saturday for the penultimate matchup of the four-game set. The Red Sox start lefty Drake Britton, while the Pelicans counter with righthander Barrett Loux, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05 at LewisGale Field.

Check out the Salem RidgeYaks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 6, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central