CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Lightning strikes twice as Birds come back again in eighth

Published on May 27, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


MYRTLE BEACH, SC - Another night, another thrilling comeback victory for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. For the second straight night, Mike Olt tied the game and Jared Prince singled home the winning run in the eighth inning as the Pelicans overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks 3-2 in a meeting of Carolina League Division leaders.

Down 2-1 against Wilmington's solid lefty closer Kevin Chapman, Jared Bolden led off by roping his second double of the game into the right-center field gap. Ryan Strausborger moved Bolden to third with a groundout and Olt followed with a double down the leftfield line to tie the game at two. Zach Zaneski struck out for the second out before Chapman got a two-strike swing and miss from Mitch Hilligoss, but the ball in the dirt skipped to the backstop as Hilligoss reached and Olt moved to third.

Handed a fourth out, the Pelicans took advantage. Prince, whose infield single scored Hilligoss from second base to win Thursday night's finale against Salem, knocked a base hit the other way to bring in the go-ahead run off Chapman (0-1).

Joe Ortiz retired a pair of lefties to start the ninth for the Pelicans before Jason Wood turned to Ryan Kelly to face righty Yem Prades. Kelly got Prades to ground out softly to second to nail down the Pelicans' third straight win and his sixth save.

The game started as a duel between Wilmington star right-hander Jake Odorizzi and Wilfredo Boscan of Myrtle Beach.

Like you usually have to do against staff aces, the Pelicans got on the board in the first inning off of Odorizzi. After Bolden doubled, Olt stroked a two-out single up the middle to bring home the first run of the game.

The Pelicans knocked out Odorizzi after three and one-third innings, scoring one run on three hits. The key prospect in the Zack Greinke trade walked a season-high three and struck out seven. Southpaw Ryan Dennick followed with two and two-thirds shutout innings behind Odorizzi.

In his best start of the season, Boscan made that first-inning run stand through five scoreless frames. The righty did not allow a hit until a Prades double with one out in the fifth. Although he stranded the runner in that inning, Wilmington finally broke through in the sixth. Deivy Batista led off with a single, moved to second on a Whit Merrifield sacrifice bunt and with two away, Rey Navarro singled home Batista to even the score at one.

Boscan departed after five and two-thirds innings, allowing that one run on just three hits. Ortiz entered and picked up the last out of the sixth, but the lefty surrendered a surprising solo homer to Tim Ferguson with one down in the seventh that put the Blue Rocks.in front 2-1. He set down the next five batters to set up the Birds for the comeback. Ortiz (3-1) retired nine of the ten batters he faced in picking up the win.

Game two of the three-game set is Saturday night as Carolina League ERA leader Joe Wieland goes for the Pelicans against Wilmington lefty Noel Arguelles. First pitch at BB&T Coastal Field is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Tickets for all Pelicans home games 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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Carolina League Stories from May 27, 2011


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