Sports stats



CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Birds Take Series with More Late Offense

September 1, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


WILMINGTON, DE - Chris McGuiness homered, drove in four, and posted his first three-hit night since April, Trevor Hurley threw three perfect innings of relief, and Miguel De Los Santos struck out 11 for the third time in his last five starts as the Pelicans took their 2011 regular season road finale and, with it, a series win over the Blue Rocks with a 6-4 victory Thursday night at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington.

After trailing big early, Myrtle Beach found itself in an even 4-4 ballgame in the top half of the ninth, but Wilmington reliever Dusty Odenbach dispatched Andres James and Ryan Strausborger with a groundout and a strikeout to start the evening's final frame to leave the Pelicans with the bases empty and two gone. Then, a Pelicans offense that has struggled mightily away from home in the second half started to build a rally. Leury Garcia and Mike Olt each worked two-out walks, and Jared Prince, named the Carolina League's utility outfielder on the circuit's year-end All-Star Team earlier in the day, laced a single to center field to score Garcia and give Myrtle Beach its first lead of the night. Two batters later, after a Vinny DiFazio walk, it was McGuiness who's base hit back up the middle extended the Pelicans' lead to 6-4.

Myrtle Beach's Thursday night victory was its second straight in this series in which it had to come from behind late. Wilmington put four runs on the board against Pelicans lefty Miguel De Los Santos with a three-run third highlighted by a Ryan Stovall two-run double and another run in the fifth on Whit Merrifield's steal of home from third base on a De Los Santos pickoff attempt at first.

The Pelicans, however, rallied from their mid-game deficit with a four-run outburst in the sixth. After a leadoff out, Leury Garcia and Mike Olt reached on a walk and a single, and Garcia scored on Jared Prince's RBI base hit to get the Pelicans on the board at 4-1, the same formula that would later give the Birds the lead for good. Two batters later, McGuiness showed just how healthy he finally is. The first baseman, playing in just his 50th game in a 2011 season hampered by injuries and fourth since returning from his latest six-week DL stay, crushed a three-run homer out to right field to draw Myrtle Beach even. For McGuiness, who struggled with back and oblique problems that prevented him from turning on the ball early in this season, the homer was his first since May 7 and just his second hit since coming off the disabled list this week. His first drove home Myrtle Beach's game-winning run Wednesday.

McGuiness finished with three hits on the night--he added a single in a fruitless Myrtle Beach eighth--for the first time since April 13, his fifth game of the year. His four runs batted in are a new season best.

Odenbach (2-3) took the defeat, charged with both Pelicans' ninth-inning tallies in his two innings of work. The Pelicans' final frame made a winner out of Trevor Hurley (2-4) who was lights out in his three innings of work, not allowing a baserunner and striking out three.

After a day off on Friday, the Pelicans return home to BB&T Coastal Field on Saturday for their final series of the regular season, a three-game set against the Salem Red Sox before the Southern Division Championship Series opens on Wednesday at BB&T Coastal Field. 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.

Check out the Myrtle Beach Pelicans Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...

Carolina League Stories from September 1, 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.

Other Recent Myrtle Beach Pelicans Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central