Pelicans hold off late rally to force Game 4

Published on September 3, 2010 under American Association (AA)
Shreveport-Bossier Captains News Release


SHREVEPORT, La. - For a few moments, it seemed that the Shreveport-Bossier Captains would have another late Fair Grounds Field rally to win the 2010 South Division championship. But some nifty defense and timely hitting by the Pensacola Pelicans late them live another day, as they held off the Captains for a 6-5 win on Friday night in front of 883 fans to force Game 4 of the best-of-five divisional series on Saturday, with the Captains still holding a two games to one lead.

Trailing 6-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth, the Captains got a one-out hit from Uriak Marquez to start things up against reliever Lee Henry. A walk to Brian Peterson and a fielder's choice put runners at the corners with two outs, and Bryan Sabatella met new pitcher Austin Chambliss with his first hit of the series to bring in a run and make it 6-3. Robert Perry then walked to bring up Christopher Garcia with the bases loaded, and he hit one in the shortstop hole. But Carlos Leon dove to his right and snared it. He threw to second but the throw pulled Dallas Christison off the bag for an RBI hit for Garcia.

Pensacola manager Talmadge Nunnari then summoned closer Seth Overbey, who promptly uncorked a wild pitch to bring the Captains to within a run. But Palmer Karr's fly ball to left died in the glove of Marcos Rodriguez to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Overbey fielded Andres Rodriguez's dribbler down the third-base line and just beat him with a great stretch by Javier Brito at first. Jorge Alvarez then flied out to the track, and Uriak Marquez grounded out softly to second, letting the Pelicans live another day and ending the Captains' 13-game winning streak that started in the regular season.

The Pelicans got things going early against Captains starter Ryan DiPietro (0-1), with a four-pitch walk to Adolfo Gonzalez to start the game. Francisco Leandro then bunted down the first-base line, and Garcia fielded it but threw late and wild to first to put runners on second and third. Brito delivered the first of his three hits to give Pensacola a 1-0 lead, before a pop-up and a double play ended the frame.

That would become a trend for DiPietro, as three hits and an error gave Pensacola a run in the second, before a shallow fly ball and another double play ended that inning, and Lou Palmisano's two-run homer made it 4-0 in the third before yet another twin killing kept it 4-0.

Shreveport-Bossier finally got things going off Bryan Rembisz (1-0) in the third, getting a two-out single from Garcia and a double from Karr to get on the board. The Captains got one more in the fourth on an RBI from Jovanny Rosario, but Brito kept the Captains behind 4-2 on a nifty 3-2 double play to end the inning, snaring Perry's grounder down the line on a dive, stepping on first and firing home to get Brian Peterson, who could not dislodge the ball from Palmisano on a collision at the plate.

Rembisz went five and turned it over to Henry, who allowed just a two-out infield hit in each of the sixth and seventh to keep the Captains at two runs. Meanwhile, DiPietro walked Dallas Christison on four pitches with two outs and no one on in the sixth to end his night. Christison then stole second off Justin Young, and scored when Young airmailed a throw to first on a comebacker from Adolfo Gonzalez. Another steal from Christison and a two-out hit by Gonzalez in the eighth gave the Pelicans their final run - one it turned out that they needed.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Association Stories from September 3, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central