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Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: Game Two, MCCS - 6:35 p.m. ET at Wilmington Blue Rocks - September 14, 2015

September 14, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


PELICANS GAME NOTES: SEPTEMBER 14 at Wilmington Blue Rocks

GAME TWO OF THE MILLS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Pelicans lead best-of-five format 1-0)

First pitch from Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware is set for 6:35 p.m.

PELICANS: RHP Tyler Skulina (3-6, 3.11 ERA) | BLUE ROCKS: RHP Jakob Junis (5-11, 3.64 ERA)

Today's game can be heard on WRNN AM 1450 ESPN Myrtle Beach, online and on mobile devices via TuneIn Radio, or on the MiLB First Pitch App. The broadcast is presented by Courtyard Myrtle Beach at Barefoot Landing. Pregame Show coverage begins at 6:15 p.m.

Today's pregame show guest is Pelicans bus driver Lorenzo Jackson.

LAST TIME OUT: Needing extra innings, the Pelicans captured a Game One victory by a 3-2 score in ten frames against the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday evening... Down 1-0 early due to a home run from Blue Rocks first baseman Ryan O'Hearn, Myrtle Beach struck for two runs in the sixth to move ahead on RBI knocks by MARK ZAGUNIS and JORGE SOLER...The Blue Rocks rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning, and the Pelicans retook the lead for good with a bases-loaded single by VICTOR CARATINI in the tenth...JEN-HO TSENG worked six innings of one-run ball...JOSH CONWAY wiggled out of a jam inherited from MICHAEL HEESCH in the seventh, and after JASVIR RAKKAR loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, DAVID BERG limited the damage to one run before throwing a perfect tenth for the win.

SOLER-POWERED: Cubs outfielder JORGE SOLER joined the roster on a Major League Rehab assignment on Friday. Soler, 23, is on the mend from an oblique strain suffered in August, and he was placed on the disabled list on August 24. He went 1-for-2 with a double, a run scored, and a walk in Game Three of the Southern Division Championship Series and 1-for-4 with an RBI double and three strikeouts, along with a walk in Game One of the Mills Cup Championship Series. Ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Chicago Cubs farm system entering the year by Baseball America, Soler is batting .265 with 18 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, and 42 RBI in 90 games played in the big leagues. He has also struck out 111 times while drawing just 29 walks. This is his second stint on the DL this season. A native of Havana, Cuba, Soler signed with the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 2012. He defected from Cuba in 2011 and signed a nine-year, $30 million contract on June 30, 2012. According to reports out of Chicago, Soler is expected to play the entire series.

#PLAYOFFMANIA: The best-of-five Mills Cup Championship continues with Game Two tonight. The Pelicans square off against Wilmington in this series for the first time since 1999, when the clubs split the Hurricane Floyd-shortened Mills Cup Finals. This year, Myrtle Beach won the Southern Division title by beating the Winston-Salem Dash two games to one in the Southern Division Championship Series while the Blue Rocks swept the Lynchburg Hillcats in their best-of-three set. After tonight, the Pelicans head back home to host Game Three on Wednesday; Games Four and Five will follow on Thursday and Friday, if necessary. The Pelicans have not won the Mills Cup since 2000 and have two titles. Wilmington has four CL championships but none since the 1999 co-championship; their last outright title was in 1998.

BATTLE TESTED: This year's Pelicans roster is chock-full of players with postseason experience. Sixteen current Pelicans have won minor league titles. Outfielder PIN-CHIEH CHEN won the Florida State League championship in 2013. Fifteen players from last year's Kane County Cougars Midwest League Championship roster are currently on the Pelicans roster (Baez, Brockmeyer, Dunston Jr., Lockhart, Martin, Rogers, Young, Zagunis, Blackburn, Heesch, Ihrig, Rakkar, Torrez, Tseng, and Underwood Jr.). BEN CARHART played in four games during last year's Florida State League playoffs, when the Cubs fell to the Fort Myers Miracle. In 2012, the Cubs affiliated Boise Hawks fell in the Northwest League finals with current Pelican MICHAEL HEESCH, and the same club lost in the finals in 2013 with Brockmeyer, Dunston Jr., Lockhart, Rogers, Blackburn, Rakkar, and Underwood Jr. The Hawks lost in the first round last year with a team including GLEYBER TORRES, JAMES FARRIS, BRAD MARKEY, and JEREMY NULL. Game Three starter JONATHAN MARTINEZ made a start for Great Lakes as a Dodgers farmhand in the 2013 postseason. Only DAVID BERG, JOSH CONWAY, DAVID GARNER, TYLER SKULINA, VICTOR CARATINI, and JASON VOSLER have not played in the postseason professionally.

THAT'S WHY THE RECORD BOOKS ARE IN PENCIL: The Pelicans completed the 2015 regular season setting a handful of team records and a few impressive individual feats. The club committed just 85 errors (previous record: 118, 2013); the pitching staff issued out only 339 walks (347, 2011); baserunners were caught just 45 times (51, 2012), and the club compiled the second-lowest team ERA, 3.01 (2.51 in 2000 is lowest, 3rd is now 3.20 in 2002). Individually, CHESNY YOUNG (.321) finished third in team history for batting average in a single season. MARK ZAGUNIS' 80 walks are tied for second-most in a single season with PRESTON BECK from last season. JONATHAN MARTINEZ (2.56 ERA) compiled the sixth-best ERA in club history, and JASVIR RAKKAR notched 16 saves, tied for seventh in club history.

BIRD FOOD: Pelicans utility man CHESNY YOUNG, outfielder MARK ZAGUNIS and manager MARK JOHNSON were named to the Carolina League Year-End All-Star roster...For the first time since 2000, the Pelicans had a .500 or better record against all seven Carolina League opponents in the regular season...The Pelicans last won a Mills Cup in 2000...The club has made the Mills Cup Finals four times in the previous eight trips to the playoffs...Myrtle Beach is 3-2 in playoff games against Wilmington, splitting the 1999 Mills Cup Finals...Since 2008, the Pelicans had been 0-5 in postseason extra-inning games, picking up the 10-inning win last night ended that run of consecutive losses.

PROSPECT 8-PACK: Seven players on the Pelicans' roster are ranked in the Cubs Top 30 prospects according to MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch and seven are in Baseball America's Top 30. RHPs PAUL BLACKBURN (NR by MLB.com/No. 18 Baseball America), JEREMY NULL (29/NR), DAURY TORREZ (28/30), JEN-HO TSENG (16/11), DUANE UNDERWOOD (4/10), catcher VICTOR CARATINI (22/13), infielder GLEYBER TORRES (1/6), and OF MARK ZAGUNIS (9/15). Baseball America also lauded a handful of Pelicans players with "Best Tools" labels. Caratini is the "Best Defensive Catcher" in the system according to the 2015 Prospect Handbook, CARLOS PENALVER as the "Best Defensive Infielder," Tseng has the "Best Control" and "Best Changeup," Underwood possesses the "Best Fastball," and Zagunis has "Best Strike Zone Discipline." Outfielders BILLY MCKINNEY (2/6), JACOB HANNEMANN (27/17, and BA's "Fastest Baserunner"), 3B JEIMER CANDELARIO (19/24), and JUAN PANIAGUA (top "Sleeper" prospect) were on the roster but have since been promoted. ANDREW ELY, named by BA as the "Best Defensive Player" from the Cubs 2014 draft class, was on the club's Opening Day roster but went down to South Bend. 2B DANIEL LOCKHART was at one point ranked #29 by MLB.com but is no longer.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS LINEUP

3 Chesny Young 3B

20 Pin-Chieh Chen CF

45 Jorge Soler RF

17 Victor Caratini DH

22 Ben Carhart C

27 Jacob Rogers 1B

35 Jeffrey Baez LF

7 Daniel Lockhart 2B

1 Gleyber Torres SS

55 Tyler Skulina RHP

WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS LINEUP

7 Carlos Garcia DH

11 Jack Lopez SS

29 Mauricio Ramos 3B

32 Ryan O'Hearn 1B

13 Elier Hernandez RF

35 Cam Gallagher C

4 Humberto Arteaga 2B

23 Dominique Taylor CF

12 Logan Moon LF

24 Jake Junis RHP

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