CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Martinez Blast Dooms Birds in Tenth

June 7, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


MYRTLE BEACH, SC - After lying dormant for seven innings, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans scraped back to send the game to extra innings, but they fell apart in the tenth. Jose Martinez's three-run home run keyed a four-run tenth inning as the Winston-Salem Dash won 6-2 to earn at least a split of the four-game set at BB&T Coastal Field.

Down to their last out in the ninth trailing 2-1, the Pelicans evened the score when Jared Prince blooped a single to right to score Ryan Strausborger. Ryan Kelly (2-3) ran into trouble to start the tenth for the Birds, putting two on with one out before Martinez cracked his towering shot for a 5-2 Dash lead. Winston-Salem added one more and although Ryan Kussmaul walked the first two batters to start the bottom of the tenth, he retired three straight to close it out.

The game began as a pitcher's duel between Joe Wieland of the Pelicans and Winston-Salem's Terry Doyle, who traded zeroes for the first four innings. Wieland set down 14 of the first 16 batters he faced while Doyle, thanks to two double plays, faced the minimum 17 through five and two-thirds innings.

The Dash struck first to break the deadlock in the fifth when Jake Oester clubbed his first home run of the season out to left field to hand Winston-Salem a 1-0 lead.

They added another run in the sixth when Jared Mitchell, a sometimes confounding 2010 first-round pick, flashed his bright talent with a long opposite field home run just inside the left field foul pole to make it 2-0 Dash.

Wieland pitched seven strong innings, allowing only two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. With two outs in the seventh, Wieland walked Oester on a 3-2 pitch. It was the first base on balls issued by the Reno native since he walked Andy Wilkins of Winston-Salem on April 18. The Pelicans ace had gone 61 innings and racked up 64 strikeouts between walks.

In their first game without star third baseman and cleanup hitter Mike Olt, who broke his collarbone in a home plate collision last night, the Birds' offense could not get anything going against Doyle. They got on the board in the eighth when Leury Garcia's two-out single brought home Vinny DiFazio to cut the lead to one.

Doyle left after eight innings in which he held Myrtle Beach to one run on five hits. He walked one and struck out two before handing the game to J.R. Ballinger (BS 1, 3-0) for the final three outs. Ryan Strausborger knocked a one-out single to put the tying run aboard and he moved to second on an errant pickoff throw and to third on a Chris McGuiness groundout. With two outs, Prince's hit fell just out of Martinez's reach to level the score. The excitement was short-lived however, as the Dash stormed out in the next half inning to win it.

Despite the loss, the Pelicans maintained an advantage of three and a half games in the Southern Division as Kinston fell 8-2 in Wilmington. Myrtle Beach's magic number dropped to ten with 12 games to play before a first-half champion is crowned.

The third game of the four-game set is set for tomorrow night with a matchup of right-handers. Justin Grimm goes for the Pelicans against Andre Rienzo of Winston-Salem. 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 June 7, 2011


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