Patient Pelicans Endure Delay, Beat Red Sox 5-1

Myrtle Beach, SC (August 21, 2012) - The Pelicans scored the final five runs and weathered a 60-minute rain delay to defeat the Red Sox 5-1 on a rainy Monday night at TicketReturn.Com Field. The loss extinguished any faint hope that Salem still had to make a postseason run, as the Sox now trail the Pelicans by 13.5 games with 13 games remaining, an insurmountable gap in pursuit of the final playoff spot in the Southern Division. Salem has not made the Carolina League playoffs since 2009.

Matt Barnes pitched well in his four-inning stint, holding Myrtle Beach to one run on five hits while striking out three and walking none. He tossed 69 pitches, and the only run he allowed came on Odubel Herrera's solo homer, a blast that came on the tenth pitch of a marathon at-bat to begin the fourth inning. Herrera's home run tied the game at one, and the Pelicans threatened to take the lead later in the frame, but Barnes stranded the bases loaded to keep the game tied.

Sean Coyle's RBI single drove in Brandon Jacobs to give Salem a short-lived 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but the Pelicans rode the right arm of Joe Van Meter to their 70th victory. In the last of the fifth, Chris Grayson launched a two-run homer off Salem reliever Marco Duarte to break the tie and put the Pelicans in front 3-1. Meanwhile, Van Meter struck out five Red Sox and only allowed three hits in his five and two-thirds innings before the rain delay.

With Drew Hedman at first and Coyle coming up with two outs in the top of the sixth, the umpires called for the tarp, a decision seemed past due since it had been raining for most of the ballgame. Following a 60-minute wait, the precipitation dissipated and the field remained playable, prompting the resumption shortly after 10 PM.

In the bottom of the seventh, Salem dropped two fly balls for a pair of errors that led to two unearned runs for the Pelicans. Miscues made by Hedman and Brandon Jacobs proved costly, and Myrtle Beach led 5-1.

Salem put two runners aboard in the ninth, but never got the tying run to the dish. Hedman led the Red Sox with two hits and two walks, while Josh Richmond went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles for the Pelicans. The loss dropped Salem to 61-64-1 for the year and 20-36 in the second half.

The Sox and Pelicans continue their four-game series on Tuesday night, with Yeiper Castillo scheduled to pitch opposite Randol Rojas.