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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes

June 2, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


Today's games 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 4:40 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Pelicans and Nationals played a 3-3 suspended game that will resume today, followed by a nine-inning game...JEN-HO TSENG and LUCAS GIOLITO matched zeros over the first five innings before both teams scored a pair in the sixth...VICTOR CARATINI smacked a bases-loaded double to put the Birds up 2-0 in the sixth, while John Wooten's two-run double tied in the bottom half...The game remained tied into extra-innings, when the Pelicans retook the lead on a dropped pop-up by Christopher Bostick, who then led off the bottom of the tenth with a triple. He then scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Perez...Four pitches later, in a 2-2 count to Isaac Ballou, the game was put into a rain delay...The contest was then suspended after a 34-minute delay.

LONG BOMBS AWAY: The Pelicans have experienced a power surge in their last two games, blasting 5 home runs in the first two contests of their series with the Potomac Nationals. JEIMER CANDELARIO has hit a long ball in each of the first two games, while KEVIN BROWN clubbed his first of the season in the game one. DANIEL LOCKHART hit his second of the year on Sunday, while JACOB ROGERS blasted his team-leading sixth of the year to center field. Rogers' homer is the first to center field for any Pelicans player this year, and the three homers on Sunday set a season-high for dingers in a game. Four of the five in the set have come as lead-off shots, and overall, nine of the Birds' 22 round-trippers this season have begun an inning. Five of the team's home runs have tied a game, and when the club has needed a clutch homer, they've hit six that held as the go-ahead and winning shot.

BROWNIE'S ON FIRE: After a scorching hot week, Pelicans outfielder KEVIN BROWN took home Carolina League Offensive Player of the Week honors for the final week of May (25-31). He lead the league in hitting and slugging percentage, posting an absurd .429/.500/.810 "triple slash." Brown went 9-for-21 with a hit in each of the six games he played during the week, smacking four extra-base hits, including his first homer of the year on Saturday. Brown is the third Pelican to win a league weekly honor this year, joining outfielder BILLY MCKINNEY (May 4-10) and pitcher TYLER SKULINA (April 27-May 3).

ROAD SWEET HOME: Last season, the Pelicans had the best road record in the minors and in team history at 45-24. New affiliation: same results. The Pelicans are off to a 20-6 start away from home, once again, the best road record in the minors. The Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros, Double-A, Texas League) are 21-7 with in a win last night and are in a virtual tie with the Pelicans, but the Birds have the better road winning percentage.

RUNS, FORREST, RUNS: The Birds offense has been scoring runs in clumps as the club has maintained its first place lead in the CL Southern Division. The Pelicans have scored five runs or more in ten of their last 16 games, going 12-4 during that stretch. For the month of May, the club scored six or more runs in a game on 12 occasions out of 27 contests.

BEACH TO THE BIGS: It's been a busy few days for former Pelicans making their way to Arlington. Both HANSER ALBERTO and CHI CHI GONZALEZ have been promoted to the Majors this week. They are the 129th and 130th former Pelicans to make the big leagues after their time in Myrtle Beach. Gonzalez made his MLB debut on Saturday, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He tossed 5.2 scoreless frames en route to a win in an 8-0 shutout of the Boston Red Sox. Gonzalez was the fifth former Pelicans player to make big leagues for the first time this season, joining KEONE KELA (with Pelicans in 2014, debuted with Rangers), ODUBEL HERRERA (2012-2014, Phillies), WILFREDO BOSCAN (2011, Pirates), and Alberto. Today, the Texas Rangers are expected to purchase the contract of 2014 Pelicans slugger and Carolina League MVP JOEY GALLO, who will be the 131st Pelican in the big leagues.

MAY OH MAY: Last season, the Pelicans completed an insanely good 21-8 month of May, their best record in May in recorded team history (dating back through the beginning of the 2005 season). This year, the Birds topped it, going 21-7 during the month. A big reason for the success is the offense, which hit .271 in the month after batting .248 last month. The club is scoring 5.0 runs/game after totaling just 3.7 r/gm last month. Five runs a game is a great recipe for success; the Pelicans are 20-1 when scoring five or more runs in a contest. The only loss when scoring 5+ runs came by way of a 10-6 defeat on May 8 at Winston-Salem.

PROSPECT 8-PACK: Eight of the 25 active 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 four pitchers ranked: RHPs PAUL BLACKBURN (No. 25 MLB.com/No. 18 Baseball America), DAURY TORREZ (23/30), JEN-HO TSENG (9/11), DUANE UNDERWOOD (6/10), C VICTOR CARATINI (17/13), 3B JEIMER CANDELARIO (13/24), 2B DANIEL LOCKHART (No.30/NR), and OF MARK ZAGUNIS (16/15). 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.

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