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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Birds Put the Walk in Walk-Off, Win in 12

August 25, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - It took a while, but the Myrtle Beach Pelicans avoided the sweep. Andrew Clark's 12th-inning bases-loaded walk against former Pelican Matt Crim gave the Birds a 3-2 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats in the final game of their three-game set. The Birds are three and a half games behind first-place Winston-Salem heading into a four-game road series against the Dash.

With two outs and the bases empty in the 12th, Santiago Chirino started a rally with a double to left. Reliever Mark Lamm (1-2), who wriggled out of jams in the ninth and tenth innings, intentionally walked Travis Adair then lost Jared Prince on a four-pitch walk to load the bases. The southpaw Crim, a Pelican in 2010, came on to face the lefty-swinging Clark and fell behind 2-0, then 3-1 in the count. Clark fouled off one pitch before taking the payoff low and outside to send Chirino in with the winning run.

Chirino did not even start the game. He was given the day off before being forced into duty when Ryan Strausborger was hit on the left hand with a pitch in the third inning. Strausborger stayed in the game to run for himself, but was removed for Chirino when the Birds took the field in the fourth.

The Birds trailed 2-0 early but came back to tie the game with solo homers from Mike Olt in the fourth and the seventh innings. They missed a chance to win it in the ninth against Lamm when James flew out to right to end the frame with runners at second and third, but their best opportunity was in the tenth.

Jimmy Swift led off with a single and moved up on Lamm's errant pickoff throw. Chirino bunted and reached on a fielder's choice before Adair was intentionally walked to load the bases with nobody out. Myrtle Beach could not cash in as Prince bounced into a force out at home and Clark grounded into a 3-2-3 double play to end the threat.

Joe Ortiz pulled a rabbit out of the hat in both the tenth and 11th innings for Myrtle Beach. Lynchburg loaded the bases with two down in the tenth, but Ortiz struck Marcus Lemon out looking. Two one-out singles set up the Hillcats in the 11th, but Ortiz induced a pair of groundouts to escape trouble. After a leadoff single in the 12th by Joey Terdoslavich, Ortiz (5-5) got a double play grounder and a strikeout to end the 12th and he picked up the win with three shutout innings of relief.

Both starters were outstanding, but had to settle for no decisions. Myrtle Beach's Justin Grimm allowed two unearned runs in seven innings of five hit-ball, walking one and striking out four. David Hale of the Hillcats allowed two runs on the Olt solo shots over eight innings, he allowed six hits and struck out five without walking a man.

The Hillcats' second-inning rally off Grimm started when Andres James flubbed a grounder to short off the bat of Joe Leonard. After a walk to Shawn McGill, Marcus Lemon bunted the runners over and third baseman Jimmy Swift's throw to first was wild, sending in Leonard with the game's first run. Barrett Kleinknecht followed with a sacrifice fly to left that plated McGill and gave the visitors a two-run advantage without recording a hit in the inning.

Two Carolina League records came closer to falling in this game. Jared Prince was hit by a pitch in the first inning, his 28th of the season, putting him two shy of the league mark of 30, set last year by Winston-Salem's Seth Loman. Joey Terdoslavich's double in the third was the Lynchburg slugger's 50th two-bagger of the season. The switch-hitter is the fourth Carolina Leaguer in history to reach the 50-double plateau and he's one shy of tying Woody Fair's 65-year-old record of 51, set with the Durham Bulls in 1946.

Lynchburg heads to Kinston for three games this weekend and the Pelicans will visit Winston-Salem for a doubleheader on Friday to begin their final road trip of the regular season. Starting at 6:00 p.m., Chad Bell (3-1, 3.01) goes for the Pelicans in game one against Winston's Andre Rienzo (5-5, 3.33) and Kasey Kiker (3-2, 5.79) will pitch the nightcap against Ryan Buch (3-4, 5.21).

After a four-game weekend set in Winston-Salem, the Birds play four in Wilmington before coming home to close out the regular season September 3-5 against the Salem Red Sox. Tickets for all Pelicans home games, including the postseason, are available at the BB&T Coastal Field box office, MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, and by phone at 843-918-6000 or 877-918-TIXX.

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