CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Pair Of Pelican Homers Lead Myrtle Beach Past Wilmington

Published on June 20, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Myrtle Beach, SC - A pair of Myrtle Beach home runs and another quiet offensive night for Wilmington cost the Blue Rocks as the Pelicans handed them a 4-2 defeat Friday night, the team's second straight loss to open up the season's second half. With the defeat, Wilmington fell to a season-low four games below the .500 mark at 33-37.

Nick Vickerson hit a two-run homer off of Blue Crew starter Sean Manaea in the second inning to kick off the night's scoring. Jorge Alfaro singled to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a passed ball by Cam Gallagher. Vickerson then ripped one out of the park to left, putting the Pelicans up, 2-0.

The Rocks would claw their way back into the game, however, with a run in the top of the sixth inning. Bubba Starling singled up the middle off of reliever Justin Sprenger to lead off the inning. After Cody Stubbs and Zane Evans struck out, Cam Gallagher singled to left, plating Starling to pull Wilmington within 2-1.

Myrtle Beach responded quickly in the bottom of the sixth, however, re-extending its lead to 3-1. Chris Garia drew a free pass off of Manaea to lead off the inning and then stole second base. He advanced to third on a bunt single by Hanser Alberto, putting runners at the corners with nobody out. Manager Darryl Kennedy then lifted Manaea for righty Yender Caramo, who allowed a sacrifice fly to Preston Beck, but settled in after that to limit the damage.

In the top of the eighth inning, Wilmington once again pulled to within one. Starling greeted reliever Abel De Los Santos by doubling to center to start the frame. Stubbs then grounded out, bringing up Zane Evans. Evans reached on a throwing error by third-baseman Luis Mendez, allowing Starling to score.

Alberto answered right back for the Pelicans in the bottom of the eighth by crushing a homer to left off of reliever Zeb Sneed, bringing the score to 4-2 Myrtle Beach.

Starter Sam Wolff (7-3, 2.60) picked up the victory for the Pelicans by throwing five shutout innings and yielding just four hits. Manaea (2-6, 4.89) suffered the defeat for the Blue Rocks and tossed five innings while giving up three runs on four hits. The southpaw also punched out six. Alex Claudio earned his third save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

Wilmington will try to avoid the sweep against Myrtle Beach on Saturday night at TicketReturn.Com Field. The Blue Rocks will send righty Glenn Sparkman (3-1, 1.33) to the mound, while the Pelicans will counter with southpaw Andrew Faulkner (4-1, 2.20). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM. The Blue Rocks return home on Wednesday, June 25, to open up a three-game homestand against the Lynchburg Hillcats. For tickets, call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com.

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Carolina League Stories from June 20, 2014


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