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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Late Pelicans Rally Not Enough As Birds Fall

May 24, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - For the second consecutive night, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans waited until the late innings to make their offensive move against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, and for the second consecutive night, the Birds came up just short. With heart-pounding drama in the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Rocks claimed a 5-4 win in front of 3,546 fans at BB&T Coastal Field.

Before things got tense in the ninth, however, the Blue Rocks controlled the game early. Wilmington plated two off Pelicans starter Jeff Locke in the first inning. Locke, who has struggled with command as of late, walked two in the opening frame and surrendered an RBI single to Mike Moustakas along with an RBI sacrifice fly to David Lough to give the Rocks an early 2-0 lead. The Pelicans responded with a run of their own on a Jason Heyward solo home run in the bottom of the inning to cut the Wilmington lead in half.

Wilmington got that run back on an RBI double by Lough in the third, scoring Johnny Giavotella as Blue Rocks starter Alex Caldera settled into a groove, facing the minimum from the fourth through the sixth innings. The Blue Rocks added another run in the seventh on a Giavotella sacrifice fly that scored Ryan Eigsti, putting Wilmington up 4-1.

The Pelicans opened their half of the seventh with three straight hits: singles by Freddie Freeman and Cody Johnson before a Donell Linares double scored them both to make it a 4-3 score. Wilmington's Ben Swaggerty relieved Caldera and got two quick strikeouts before Chad Lundahl singled home Linares with the game-tying run. The base hit was Lundahl's first in 25 at-bats this year against left-handed pitching.

Myrtle Beach's momentum didn't last long, however, as Blue Rocks shortstop Jeff Bianchi took the first pitch from Pelicans reliever Michael Broadway (0-4) out to left field, quickly wrestling the lead back for Wilmington at 5-4.

Bianchi would be the hero in the ninth, as well. After Swaggerty (3-1) issued a leadoff walk to Cody Johnson, the Blue Rocks went to closer Aaron Hartsock (S, 11) who got the first out of the inning on a Linares sacrifice bunt, advancing Johnson to scoring position as the potential game-tying run. Jon Mark Owings walked with one out, and he and Johnson each advanced a bag on a Benji Johnson groundout. With the potential game-tying and winning runs on base and two outs, Lundahl smoked a line drive that was snared by a leaping Bianchi to secure the win. With the loss, the Pelicans fell to 0-21 in games in which they trail after the eighth inning and 4-12 in one-run games. Myrtle Beach got the tying run on base in the ninth inning of Saturday night's 6-5 loss as well.

Myrtle Beach's homestand resumes this week. After a Memorial Day off, the Pelicans will welcome in the Winston-Salem Dash for their first visit to BB&T Coastal Field Tuesday through Thursday. The first two games of the three-game set will have special School Kids Day start times of 10:35 AM. Tickets are available for all three games in the series by stopping by the BB&T Coastal Field box office, contacting the Pelicans at (843)918-6000 or by visiting the Tickets page at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com.

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