CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Skid Snapped, Rocks Roll In Myrtle Beach, 6-3

Published on July 20, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Myrtle Beach, SC - A back-and-forth affair seesawed the way of the Wilmington Blue Rocks (46-48, 10-15) in a 6-3 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (54-41, 14-12) on Wednesday night. While the Blue Crew committed an error for a 13th straight game, and continued to struggle with men in scoring position (3-for-16), it snapped a season-high-tying five-game losing streak. The Blue Rocks also secured just their second win of the season at Coastal Field in nine tries, snapping the host Pelicans' winning streak in the process at six games.

Michael Mariot (6-2) logged his best start as a Blue Rock while tying his career-high for innings pitched. The Carolina League All-Star had struggled as a starter, beginning the day with an 0-2 record and an ERA of 9.00 in three prior nods. On Wednesday, he gave up just three runs (one earned) over seven frames, walked one and struck out three.

The Blue Rocks got only one run out of a bases-loaded one-out situation in the first inning on Ryan Stovall's groundout. The run went unearned on Wilfredo Boscan (3-7) thanks to an error by Jonathan Roof. Myrtle Beach promptly responded, hanging two unearned runs on Mariot in the bottom half of the inning. John Whittleman's 16th error of the year extended the inning, opening the window for successive two-out RBI singles by Zach Zaneski and Travis Adair.

Whit Merrifield hit a solo homer into the first row of the nearby left-field bleachers to tie the game in the fifth. The Pelicans again authored a rapid response, with Tuesday's hero Ryan Strousborger sending Leury Garcia home with a sacrifice fly the next half-inning to make it 3-2.

From there, the game would be all Blue Rocks. Wilmington ripped off four unanswered runs. Stovall registered an inside-the-park single with much thanks to some Myrtle Beach blunders. After his knock to right, the corner infielder stole second, took third on Zaneski's league-worst eighth error (throwing), and scored on Boscan's wild pitch for a tie game.

Nick Van Stratten put the Blue Rocks ahead to stay with his single to center in the seventh. It scored the speedy Gerard Hall who reached on an infield knock to begin the frame. Hall then hammered home two insurance tallies with a single to left in the eighth against reliever Kennil Gomez. Boscan gave up 11 hits and four runs (three earned) over 6.1 innings to take his fifth loss in six starts.

Lefty Ryan Dennick protected the Wilmington advantage with two scoreless innings for his fourth save in five tries. The Pelicans brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but Jared Prince grounded out to Whittleman to end it.

The four-game set concludes at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday night. Wilmington southpaw Noel Arguelles (3-4, 2.99) opposes right-hander Justin Grimm (2-2, 3.42). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

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Carolina League Stories from July 20, 2011


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