CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes

Published on September 8, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LHP Francisco Jimenez (4-3, 3.23) at LHP Chad Bell (3-2, 2.98)

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Pelicans won Game One of the Southern Division Championship Series 4-1 over the Kinston Indians at BB&T Coastal Field Wednesday night. Justin Grimm tossed six innings of one-run, four-hit ball and his catcher, Vinny DiFazio cracked a two-run homer in the second inning that made the difference. Grimm worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first and a second-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth. Clinging to a 2-1 lead for most of the night, the Pelicans finally broke through in the eighth with two insurance runs. Chris McGuiness, who struck out in his first three at bats, led off with a booming double to center field and moved up a base on Santiago Chirino's sacrifice bunt. Ryan Strausborger looped a single over the drawn-in infield and into center to bring home McGuiness and make it a 3-1 game. Two batters later Jared Prince came through with an opposite-field double to right field that plated Strausborger and gave the Pelicans a three-run advantage. Chirino and Prince both knocked three hits in the win. Newcomer Matt West capped the bullpen's great night with a dominant 1-2-3 ninth to record the save and lock down an enormous win for Myrtle Beach.

NOT SO GRIMM: Pelicans right-hander Justin Grimm got the Game One start last night and he pitched like an ace. He got into a bases-loaded one-out jam in the first inning, but he escaped trouble with strikeouts of Jesus Aguilar and Tyler Cannon. That began a string of four consecutive strikeouts. He gave up his only run in the third when Tyler Holt walked, stole second and scored on Adam Abraham's RBI single. After going 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth, he ran into trouble in the sixth clinging to a 2-1 lead. A double and a walk started the inning and cleanup hitter Jeremie Tice bunted the runners to second and third. Grimm buckled down to induce a groundout from Aguilar before striking out Cannon to preserve the lead and end his night. Grimm picked up the win in six innings of work, allowing one run on four hits, walking four and striking out six.

WHAT A RELIEF!: Following in Grimm's footsteps were three Myrtle Beach relievers who each threw a scoreless inning to lock down the one-run victory. Lefty Joe Ortiz was first out of the bullpen in the seventh and after allowing a pair of two-out singles he struck out Bo Greenwell to end the frame. Right-hander Ryan Rodebaugh worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning through the heart of the Kinston order, capping it with strikeouts of Jeremie Tice and Jesus Aguilar. Matt West, making his second appearance in the Carolina League after being promoted from Short Season-A Spokane on Monday, was given the task of closing the game. The righty was consistently in the mid-90s with his fastball as he struck out Tyler Cannon and got Casey Frawley on a flyout before Roberto Perez hit a tapper back to the mound that ended the game and gave West the save.

WHOA, DIFAZIO: Catcher Vinny DiFazio has feasted on Kinston pitching this season and he kept it up in his first at bat of the playoffs. With one on and one out in the second inning, he crushed a two-run home run to left field off starter Clayton Cook that made the difference in the Birds' 4-1 win. The Hampton, NJ native batted .342 (13-38) with ten RBIs in 12 regular season games against Kinston and five of his nine homers overall this year have come off K-Tribe pitching. Behind the plate, DiFazio also helped guide Justin Grimm and three relievers through the Game One victory. Since the start of the second half of the season and including last night's win, Pelicans' hurlers had a 3.02 ERA with DiFazio behind the plate.

ONE BIG STEP: The Pelicans hope to continue a trend after their victory in last night's playoff opener. In 18 Carolina League postseason series since 2005, the Game One winner has gone on to win the series 14 times. That includes a 9-3 mark in best-of-five sets. With the wins by Myrtle Beach and Frederick last night, the home team has now gone 11-3 in best-of-five series openers since 2005. The Pelicans hold an all-time postseason-series record of 3-2-1 and all three victories began with a home win in the first game.

MEANWHILE UP NORTH: There is one other series going on in the Carolina League postseason. The Northern Division Championship Series got started last night when the Frederick Keys beat the Potomac Nationals 5-1 in a rain-shortened opener that was called in the bottom of the sixth due to rain. Jake Pettit threw all six innings for the Keys, holding the P-Nats to one run on three hits. Frederick scored four runs in the third inning on back-to-back homers by Miguel Abreu and Brian Ward, then they added one more run in the sixth and loaded the bases when the game was called.

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Carolina League Stories from September 8, 2011


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