CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Birds Salvage Finale Behind Ross, Bullpen

Published on May 8, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


SALEM, VA - Robbie Ross threw six innings of one-run ball, and the Pelicans got RBI base hits from Ryan Strausborger, Chris McGuiness, and Zach Zaneski in a three-run fifth to salvage the series finale in victorious fashion over the Salem Red Sox 4-1 Sunday at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

In a series between two clubs that had featured six consecutive one-run games dating back to last August, the Pelicans looked to avoid a series sweep and, with it, a five-game deficit going back home following the Sunday finale. For the first time in this series, the Birds scored the game's first run when, in the top of the third against Salem starter Miguel Gonzalez, leadoff man Jared Hoying, batting first for the first time this year, singled and stole second and came home two batters later on a Mike Olt RBI knock for a 1-0 Pelicans lead. That base hit provided Olt's first run batted in, not counting his solo home run Saturday, since the Pelicans' April 28 series finale with the Potomac Nationals at BB&T Coastal Field.

Ross didn't need a lot of run support, working efficiently through his six frames of work. The lefty struck out five in his first five innings of work and didn't allow Salem onto the board until the sixth by which time his team had backed him up with more at the plate. Ross (4-1) struck out six total against two walks, allowing Salem's lone tally on a Kolbrin Vitek RBI base hit in the sixth plating Jeremy Hazelbaker.

By that time, however, the Pelicans already had a comfortable, if not sizeable, lead at 4-0 thanks to a three-run fifth. Myrtle Beach traded hits with outs as Hoying doubled to open the frame and scored one out and two batters later on Strausborger's hit. Strausborger stole second and came home with two out with McGuiness doubled him in, and one batter after that, Zaneski plated McGuiness for the Pelicans' final tally. The Birds crossed the ten-hit threshold for the first time since Tuesday's 23-hit outburst.

Zach Osborne relieved Ross with two hitless innings out of the bullpen, and Johan Yan (S, 3) pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for the save. The win kept the Pelicans within three games of the front-running Red Sox in the Southern Division and wrapped up a stretch of 27 games in 27 days for Myrtle Beach, their longest such run of the year.

After a Monday off, the Birds return home to the Grand Strand for the first of six with the Kinston Indians and Lynchburg Hillcats on May 10. Tickets for all Pelicans home games can be purchased by visiting the BB&T Coastal Field Box office, the Tickets page at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, or by calling (843)918-6000 or (877)918-TIXX.

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Carolina League Stories from May 8, 2011


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