Second largest crowd of season on hand watch Pelicans win

June 25, 2006 - American Association (AA)
Pensacola Pelicans News Release


It was a packed Pelican Park stadium of 2,527 in Pensacola, FL on a beautiful Friday night that saw the Pelicans win the first game of the three-game series against Division Leaders Coastal Bend.

In a spot start game time decision, the Pelicans sent Sam Smith to the mound in place of Clint Sodowsky who left the team earlier in the day after signing with the Atlanta Braves.

Coastal Bend struck first in the second inning when catcher Stephan Morales hit a solo homerun over the left-field party deck to give the Aviators the 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the frame, Pensacola answered right back with a run of their own. Larry Bethea led off the inning with a walk and quickly stole second base to move into scoring position. Several batters later, Ed Montague continues his tare as he hit a shot to left-center to score Bethea.

Pensacola added two more in the third inning off a Juan Rocha towering homerun over the left-field trees. The homerun was his 4th of the season and 23rd and 24th RBI of the season.

The Pelicans scored in the fifth and sixth highlighted by a solo homerun off the bat of Ed Montague to give the Pelicans a 5-1 lead.

The Aviators refused to go quietly and mounted a comeback in the top of the seventh as they sent eight batters to the plate and managed to bring four in to score, tying the game at five. Smith exited the game to a standing ovation with runners on the corners. He went 6.2 innings giving up only five hits and three earned runs while striking out four.

The Pelicans stormed back in the bottom half of the seventh, sending eight to the plate, collecting four hits and manufacturing four runs. Trino Aguilar reached on a costly error by the Aviators as Larry Bethea and Juan Rocha came around to score on an errant throw, giving the Pelicans a 9-5 advantage.

The Aviators threatened in the top of the ninth with runners in scoring position and the Pelicans called on Tony Pierce to close the game out. He went two thirds of an inning and locked up his eighth save of the season as the Pelicans won 9-5.



American Association Stories from June 25, 2006


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