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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: 7:05 p.m. at Potomac Nationals - July 16, 2015

July 16, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


First pitch from G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium in Woodbridge, Virginia is set for 7:05 p.m.

PELICANS: RHP Jonathan Martinez (5-1, 2.92 ERA)| NATIONALS: RHP Austen Williams (1-0, 3.00 ERA)

Today's game can be heard on WRNN AM 1450 ESPN Myrtle Beach, online and on mobile devices via TuneIn Radio, or on the MiLB First Pitch App. The broadcast is presented by Courtyard Myrtle Beach at Barefoot Landing. Pregame Show coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. Today's pregame show guest is Fernando Cruz.

LAST TIME OUT: Behind three homers and seven strong innings out of starter JEN-HO TSENG, the Pelicans took down the Potomac Nationals 5-2 on Wednesday night at Pfitzner Stadium...Tseng allowed just one earned run in seven innings, while JACOB ROGERS, KEVIN BROWN, and CHESNY YOUNG all blasted home runs to pace the offense, which had only one at-bat with a runner in scoring position. JOSH CONWAY (1.0 IP) and FERNANDO CRUZ (1.0 IP) closed out the win for Tseng, his first since May 25.

LAUNCHPAD, VIRGINIA: For the third time this year, the Pelicans clubbed three homers in a game in a 5-2 win against Potomac last night. Home runs have come aplenty for the Pelicans when playing at Pfitzner Stadium this year: the Birds have hit 10 of their 38 home runs against the Nationals, and 8 of those have been at "The Pfitz," the most for the Birds at any road ballpark, despite just five games played there. Home runs have been a large part of Myrtle Beach's success as well, as the club has a 24-4 record when going deep in a ballgame. The Birds are also 7-0 when hitting more than two homers in a single contest. As for the home runs themselves, 8 of the 10 homers against the Nationals are solo shots, and 6 have led off an inning.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: After 126 games and 478 pro at-bats without a home run, CHESNY YOUNG launched his first pro home run last night, opening up the fifth inning against John Simms with a solo blast to left field. The last time Young hit a home run was May 13 of last year for the Mercer Bears at home against Georgia State. Young hit four home runs during his junior campaign and 11 in his three-year, 173 game collegiate career at Mercer.

CAN'T TOUCH THIS: The Birds pitching staff has been strong, posting a 2.26 ERA in 119 1/3 innings pitched for the month of July. Only twice in 14 games this month has a Pelicans starter allowed more than three earned runs, and on five occasions, a Pelicans starter has finished his outing without allowing an earned run at all. In fact, if the month were to end today, Pelicans starters would have a lower ERA (1.96) than the bullpen (2.74) for the first time for a month this season.

STAY IN THE YARD: Pelicans relievers are on a roll as well, posting 18 consecutive scoreless innings since JAMES PUGLIESE surrendered five runs in an outing last Wednesday. What's more, it has extended an extraordinary streak of keeping the ball in the yard. The last home run allowed by a relief pitcher came over a month ago, on June 13, when JUAN PANIAGUA gave a longball to then-league-leader LUIGI RODRIGUEZ. Since then, the Pelicans bullpen has tossed 98 2/3 innings and has allowed just six home runs on the year, good for a 0.18 HR/9IP rate. By comparison, the 'pen allowed 0.51 HR/9IP in 2014. The Birds' staff as a whole has been superb at keeping the ball in the ballpark, only allowing two homers in July, the second-lowest next to Winston-Salem (1).

OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN: CHESNY YOUNG collected two more hits on Wednesday, including his first career home run, extending his on-base streak to 33. It's the longest such streak in the league since 2012 when Winston-Salem's Carlos Sanchez reached safely in 37 straight games. It's also passed RYAN STRAUSBORGER's 31-game streak from 2011 as the longest on-base streak in team history since the Carolina League and Minor League Baseball began tracking on-base streaks officially in 2009. Along with Sanchez, only two other Carolina Leaguers have posted streaks of 33 games or more: Tim Fedroff (35, 2009, Kinston), and Eric Hosmer (33, 2010, Wilmington). Sanchez's is the longest in recorded league history (2009-present).

BIRD FOOD: The rain delay last night to begin the game was the team's 21st this season...The two-homer inning last night was only the second time this year that Pelicans have hit two out in the same inning, with the last coming May 31st, also at Potomac...For the first time since April 14, MARK ZAGUNIS has more strikeouts than walks and has struck out in five straight games (8 in total)...The Pelicans have the second-worst record in the league in games decided by two or fewer runs (17-25) and have dominated lopsided affairs (33-14 in 3 or more run margins)...The Pelicans play a game on 19 straight days before an off day August 3...JACOB ROGERS leads the Cubs organization with 55 RBI, while CHESNY YOUNG leads Cubs full-season minor leaguers with a .327 batting average.

PROSPECT 9-PACK: Nine of players on the roster are ranked in the Cubs Top 30 prospects according to MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch and seven in Baseball America's Top 30. The balanced roster has four position players and five pitchers ranked: RHPs PAUL BLACKBURN (No. 24 MLB.com/No. 18 Baseball America), JEREMY NULL (28/NR), DAURY TORREZ (22/30), JEN-HO TSENG (8/11), DUANE UNDERWOOD (6/10), catcher VICTOR CARATINI (16/13), 3B JEIMER CANDELARIO (12/24), 2B DANIEL LOCKHART (No. 29/NR), and OF MARK ZAGUNIS (15/15). Baseball America also lauded a handful of Pelicans players with "Best Tools" labels. Caratini is the "Best Defensive Catcher" in the system according to the 2015 Prospect Handbook, CARLOS PENALVER as the "Best Defensive Infielder," Tseng has the "Best Control" and "Best Changeup," Underwood possesses the "Best Fastball," and Zagunis has "Best Strike Zone Discipline." They also list JUAN PANIAGUA as the top "Sleeper" prospect. Outfielders BILLY MCKINNEY (9/6) and JACOB HANNEMANN (21/17, and BA's "Fastest Baserunner,") were on the roster but have since been promoted. ANDREW ELY, named by BA as the "Best Defensive Player" from the Cubs 2014 draft class, was on the club's Opening Day roster but went down to South Bend.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS LINEUP

6 Mark Zagunis RF

3 Chesny Young 2B

24 Jeimer Candelario 3B

27 Jacob Rogers 1B

17 Victor Caratini C

35 Kevin Brown DH

20 Pin-Chieh Chen LF

1 Carlos Penalver SS

15 Trey Martin CF

34 Jonathan Martinez RHP

POTOMAC NATIONALS LINEUP

25 Narcisco Mesa CF

44 Jayson Werth LF

4 Stephen Perez SS

24 Spencer Kieboom C

17 Drew Ward 3B

27 John Wooten 1B

31 Grant DeBruin DH

15 Khayyan Norfork 2B

5 Estarlin Martinez RF

40 Austen Williams RHP

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