Pelicans Improbably Defeat Air Hogs 11-10 in Eleven Innings

Published on August 11, 2009 under American Association (AA)
Pensacola Pelicans News Release


The Pelicans won an improbable game on Monday night, topping the Air Hogs 11-10 in 11 innings. Even though Grand Prairie led by three in the bottom of the ninth, and in the bottom of the eleventh, Pensacola still rallied to overcome the deficits and pull out the victory. The Air Hogs went through seven pitchers in their third straight loss to the Pelicans. With the win, Pensacola increases their lead atop the American Association South Division to three games.

The Air Hogs took a four-nothing lead in the very first inning, three of which came on Chad Gabriel's sixth home run of the year. The Pelicans started chipping away at the Air Hogs' lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Chase Burch walked with one out and Darby followed with a walk of his own. Dallas Christison singled to drive in Burch, and Palmisano hit a base hit to drive in Darby and the Pelicans cut the Air Hogs' lead in half. The Pelicans pulled within one run an inning later.

With one out, Antoin Gray walked. After a groundout advanced Gray to second base, Gray scored when Burch hit an infield single to the shortstop. The Pelicans trailed the Air Hogs by one from the bottom of the third until the top of the seventh.

In the seventh, the Air Hogs added three more runs to their total by plating Tucker, Dziomba, and Garza. Mike Conroy drove in two of them with a one-out single, and the game seemed over.

Key word: "seemed". The Pelicans added a run in the bottom of the eighth when Dallas Christison doubled. He scored when Lou Palmisano drove him in with a base-hit. The Pelicans rallied to tie the game in bottom of the ninth, scoring their first run of the frame when Francisco Leandro singled and stole second, coming home on an Antoin Gray base knock. Rodriguez walked to follow, and Chase Burch hit a RBI single to bring Gray in. Dallas Christison grounded out to the shortstop, but Rodriguez came home on the play and the Pelicans had tied the game at seven to force extras.

In the eleventh inning the Air Hogs rallied for three runs, one coming in on a bases-loaded single by Chad Gabriel, and two more coming home when J.B. Tucker doubled. Things looked grim for Pensacola, but the Pelicans had overcome larger deficits against Grand Prairie: on May 29 of this year Pensacola rallied back from a four-run Air Hogs' tenth to score five runs and win 10-9. History would repeat itself tonight.

After the Pelicans' first two batters were retired to start the bottom of the eleventh, Pensacola started scoring. Adam Darby singled. Dallas Christison walked. Lou Palmisano walked to load the bases, and Lou Huggins delivered a two RBI single to left. Trailing by one, Kevin Reynolds hit an infield single to the shortstop that brought Palmisano home from third to tie the game. After Francisco Leandro walked, Antoin Gray lifted a trouble-ball to shallow left. The Grand Prairie shortstop couldn't secure the ball, and as the sphere hit the turf, Huggins touched home plate and the Pelicans won 11-10.

Tyler Wilson earned win, improving to 4-1, while Jose Cordero was hit with the loss. The Pelicans started Dane DeValk, but after six innings, six (earned) runs, eight hits, three walks, and a strikeout, Ron Hill relieved him. Hill pitched through the end of the ninth, allowing one earned run on five hits, walking one and striking out two. Tyler Wilson pitched the tenth and eleventh innings, yielding three runs on four hits with a pair of both strikeouts and walks.

Leandro, Burch, and Christison all went 2-5, with Burch and Christison picking up two RBI and Leandro stealing two bases. Lee Huggins made his debut for the Pelicans, but not his debut at Pelican Park: the 2009 UWF Argonaut went 1-4 with two RBI, scoring the game-winning run on his Alma Mater Terra Firma.

The Pelicans and Air Hogs resume their series tomorrow, playing the middle match of this three-game set at 6:35 p.m.

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American Association Stories from August 11, 2009


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