CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: 7:05 at Carolina Mudcats - August 12, 2014

Published on August 12, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The Pelicans took two from the Carolina Mudcats on Sunday, winning the suspended game in 14 innings 3-2 and taking game two 5-1 at Five County Stadium. The Pelicans have won seven straight games and nine straight road contests, which sets a new franchise record for consecutive road wins...Saturday's suspended game picked up in the bottom of the eleventh inning in a 2-2 tie. ABEL DE LOS SANTOS pitched all four innings for the Birds, allowing just two baserunners. A runner reached on an error and he walked another and fanned three Mudcats in the process...The Pelicans failed to score in the twelfth inning, despite a one-out double out of LEWIS BRINSON. The Birds were set down in order in the thirteenth but broke the tie in the fourteenth inning...PRESTON BECK opened the stanza by working an eight-pitch walk and then stole second base on the first pitch to Royce Bolinger. Two batters later, NICK WILLIAMS singled to right field, bringing Beck home from second to put the Pelicans ahead 3-2...De Los Santos (5-0) worked clean fourteenth for the win. Josh Martin (4-6), who allowed the go-ahead run, suffered the defeat...In game two, both Chad James and Cole Sulser pitched well for their respective clubs. The Mudcats went ahead in the third inning on an RBI double by Yhoxian Medina. It was the only run allowed by James over five innings. He surrendered just four hits, three walks, and struck out five...The Pelicans tied it in the top of the fourth. CHRISTOPHER BOSTICK opened the inning with the first of two doubles off of the left field wall. With two on and one out, Bostick tagged from second on a shallow fly to right field and scored on the play when the Mudcats made two throwing errors...The game remained tied until the sixth. Bostick doubled again after LUIS MENDEZ led off the frame with a single. Two hitters later, NICK WILLIAMS scored Mendez on a fielder's choice with the infield in, putting the Birds ahead 2-1...Up by a run in the eighth, Bostick slammed a three-run homer to bloat the lead to 5-1, and the Pelicans went on to win by that score. The Mudcats mustered just one hit, a single, off of the Pelicans bullpen of Victor Payano, Josh McElwee, and Cody Ege...McElwee tossed two shutout frames and has not allowed a run in 17 innings with the Pelicans this season...James (4- 1) earned the win, improving to 4-0 in four road starts, while the starter Sulser (4-11) suffered his league-leading eleventh loss...In addition to setting a new record for most consecutive road wins, the Pelicans are now 43-19 on the road this season. That's the best road record in full- season minor league baseball and matches a franchise record for road wins a season, set in 2008.

PELICANS HISTORY X: The Pelicans passed a set a new franchise record for the longest road winning streak (at least as far as accurate game-by-game records are kept going back to 2004) by winning both games on Sunday with nine straight road wins. The record was set to begin this season when the Pelicans won their first eight road games. It broke a previous record of seven games. After winning eight straight road contests, the Pelicans lost their first road game to Frederick 5-4 on April 24. The Pelicans have the best road record among full-season minor league clubs (43-19). The South Atlantic League boasts two excellent road clubs just behind the Pelicans in road record: the Rangers Low-A Hickory Crawdads (36-20) and the Asheville Tourists (38-20).

WIDENING THE GAP: While the Pelicans have seven games in a row, the second-place Winston-Salem Dash have lost six straight and third place Carolina has lost three straight and eight of ten. The Pelicans now have a five-game lead, the largest lead for the club of the second half.

The magic number to clinch the second half is now 16. If the club wins the half, they would host all the enitre Southern Divisional Round of the postseason, playing up to three games at home to decide who makes it to the Mills Cup Championship Series.

MAGIC NUMBER FOUR: When scoring four or more runs this season, the Pelicans are 65-12 while just 8-33 when scoring fewer, and the four- run mark has been even more significant of late. Since July 9, the Pelicans are 15-0 when scoring four or more runs. When scoring fewer than four runs, Myrtle Beach is just 3-12 during the same stretch. The Pelicans won 2-1 on July 11 versus Lynchburg and 2-0 on Tuesday at Wilmington. They have not lost a game when scoring four or more runs since a 13-9 loss at Winston-Salem on July 8.

RAISING THE BAR: With the two wins on Sunday, the Pelicans are 28 games over .500, the most over .500 that team has been this year. The Pelicans have a shot to post the best season in franchise history. The club's 44-24 first half marked the best winning percentage in franchise history. The best full season for the franchise came in 2008, when Myrtle Beach went 89-51. The Pelicans have 20 games left and would need to win 15 of them to have the best winning perctange in club history for a single-season.

A PERFECT FIRST IMPRESSION: With another two scoreless innings on Sunday afternoon, reliever JOSH MCELWEE has the longest stretch of inning pitched to begin his 2014 Pelicans season without allowing a run (17.0 IP), passing JOSE MONEGRO who threw 13 scoreless frames to open his season with Myrtle Beach. He is now just one shy of ANDREW FAULKNER's 18 consecutive shutout innings, which is the longest such stretch by any Pelicans pitcher this season. McElwee has allowed just seven hits and six walks in his 17 shutout frames and has struck out 23 batters. He fanned 14.25 batters per nine innings while in the South Atlantic League with the Hickory Crawdads before his July 18 promotion. He is fanning 12.18/9 IP in his time in the Carolina League thus far.

CODY BUCKEL is right behind McElwee in terms of consecutive scoreless innings; the starter turned reliever has not allowed a run in 14 2/3 straight innings.

RUNNING WILD: CHRIS GARIA swiped six stelas on the road trip, including two in Saturday's suspended game (completed Sunday). The outfielder is now alone in first on the single-season record list in team history in stolen bases. The 42 steals is also career-high for the native of Willemstad, Curaçao. The mark leads the league lead and is 11th in the minors. The Carolina League record is held by Esex Snead, who stole 109 in 2000 with the Potomac Cannons (then a Cardinals affiliate). The Pelicans also lead the league in stolen bases as a team.

STRUTTING THEIR FEATHERS: The Pelicans roster currently features three players highlighted in Baseball America's list of the Rangers' Top 30 prospects, including one of the top 5, and one in the overall top 100 in MiLB. Outfielder NICK WILLIAMS (ranked No. 3 in the Rangers Top 30, No. 97 in the overall Top 100) ranks in the top 100. The other players in the Texas Top 30 are OF LEWIS BRINSON (15) and RHP JOSE LECLERC (16). Unranked in the top 30, CHRIS GARIA is the "Fastest Baserunner" and PRESTON BECK has the "Best Outfield Arm." CHRISTOPHER BOSTICK, traded from Oakland in December, was ranked No. 18 in the Athletics' top 30 by BA. Catcher JORGE ALFARO (2, 54), third baseman JOEY GALLO (4, 60), RHPs ALEX "CHI CHI" GONZALEZ (5), and KEONE KELA (18) were all on the Pelicans' Opening Day Roster and are now with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders, while LHP ALEXANDER CLAUDIO (27) is now with the Triple-A Round Rock Express.

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