CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Offense Keeps Rolling, Pelicans Sweep Hillcats

Published on April 17, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LYNCHBURG, VA - The storyline entering the Pelicans' first matchup of 2011 with the Lynchburg Hillcats might have been about affiliations, but between the white lines, it was all about offense. One team's showed up. The other's didn't.

The Pelicans and their league-leading team offense scored six unearned runs in their second-biggest inning of the weekend, a powerful third, and rolled to a series sweep of the Lynchburg Hillcats, the new Carolina League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, with a 8-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Lynchburg City Stadium.

Former Pelicans starter Cory Rasmus, who got the nod for the 'Cats in the finale, was untouchable through his first two innings as Lynchburg tried to salvage the finale and snap a six-game slide. In his first start of the season last week in Salem, Rasmus struck out the first eight he faced and nine of the first ten. Sunday started similarly with Rasmus recording five Ks while retiring the first six in order, but his defense let him down in the third.

With two outs and Myrtle Beach's Leury Garcia and Travis Adair aboard at second and third, Ryan Strausborger served a grounder out to shortstop Matt Weaver whose low throw to first skipped past Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg and, instead of ending the inning, opened the door. Both runs scored, and Strausborger went to second where he scored one batter later, following a wild pitch, on Chris McGuiness's RBI double. With three runs already home, Pelicans star Mike Olt subsequently crushed his fourth homer of the season to the opposite field - where three of his four jacks have been so far this year - to stake his club to a 5-0 lead.

Myrtle Beach wasn't done. Jared Hoying was plunked by a curveball and went to second on a wild pitch, scoring one batter later when Zach Zaneski doubled to make it a 6-0 lead. Rasmus (0-2) completed just one more inning, though he did pitch to two batters before departing in the fifth, allowing seven runs though just one, a single Pelicans tally in the fifth, went charged as earned. He struck out eight and walked a pair.

Lynchburg's struggling offense, which had scored six runs in just two games this season and entered the day with a league-worst .197 average as a unit, couldn't keep up. Pelicans starter Robbie Ross cruised with the run support, working six sterling innings and not allowing a run on four hits. Ross (1-0) countered three walks through his first three innings with four strikeouts total.

The Pelicans added a run to their lead with another Zaneski RBI single scoring Olt in the fifth and a Zaneski solo home run in the seventh. The Myrtle Beach catcher, who went undrafted out of the University of Rhode Island in 2008 and rode a strong performance in 85 games at Hickory last season to MLB.com Organizational All-Star honors, finished his day 3-for-5 with his first homer and three runs batted in.

With the outcome already nearly certain, the Hillcats cracked the scoreboard against Myrtle Beach reliever Kasey Kiker in the eighth. After an efficient seventh inning in relief of Ross, Kiker ran into trouble after a one-out walk to Phil Gosselin and two-out Adam Milligan double put a pair in scoring position with two outs. Joe Leonard knocked his third base hit of the series with runners in scoring position to plate two and round out the final margin. After Sunday, the Hillcats have seven hits with RISP as a team this year. Leonard had three of them in this series.

Returning home on Monday, the Pelicans welcome in the Winston-Salem Dash in a clash of clubs tied for first place. Myrtle Beach will send righty Joe Wieland (0-1, 1.50) for the 7:05 series opener against Winston's lefty Joe Serafin (0-0, 4.50). Monday night is Kids Eat Free night with all kids ages 12 and under receiving a coupon for a free hot dog, chips, and drink with their admission. On Tuesday, fans will receive the first Team Tuesday Poster Series giveaway of the season, and Wednesday will be the Pelicans' first Wiener Wednesday of the year with $1 hot dogs all night long. Tickets 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 April 17, 2011


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