Pelicans outlast Dash to force Game 3 in SDCS

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Sept. 10, 2015) - Winston-Salem plated three runs in the final two innings, but Myrtle Beach survived for a 4-3 victory in Game 2 of the Southern Division Championship Series on Thursday from TicketReturn.Com Field.

Behind starter Brad Markey, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, southpaw Michael Heesch tried to shut the door in the ninth inning of a 4-1 contest. However, he allowed the only three men he faced to reach. Adam Engel led off with a scorched single to center before Eddy Alvarez and Jake Peter worked consecutive walks. Following those free passes, the rain that had begun at the start of the frame became too strong, prompting a pause in the action.

The two clubs waited out a rain delay of 2 hours and 44 minutes, and the game resumed at 12:29 a.m. Trey Michalczewski brought home a run on a fielder's choice. Keon Barnum followed with a bouncer on the right side that second baseman Daniel Lockhart corraled on a dive for out number two, though it did push Alvarez across. However, Nick Basto struck out with Michalczewski, who represented the tying run, at third base.

As a result, the two teams will square off in a winner-take-all Game 3 on Friday in Myrtle Beach. The Dash will have a second chance to advance to their third Mills Cup Finals in the last six seasons. 

Before the ninth inning, Winston-Salem had only mustered three base runners against Markey. The Virginia Tech product retired the first 14 before issuing a two-out walk to Basto. The righty followed that up with seven more outs, but Barnum broke up the no-hit bid, the longest by a Myrtle Beach hurler this season, with a leadoff double in the eighth.

With two down and Barnum at third, Nolan Earley hit a bouncing ball to short, and Gleyber Torres bobbled it, allowing Barnum to score to make it 4-1.

Myrtle Beach claimed its first lead of the SDCS thanks to a third-inning Jason Vosler RBI single, the last of three straight one-out hits. Two frames later, Pin-Chieh Chen, who is 3-for-5 in the contest, doubled home Chesny Young to push the Pelicans' lead to 2-0.

Both of those runs came against starter Yency Almonte, who worked 4.2 innings and struck out seven. James Dykstra stranded a pair of Almonte's runners in the fifth, but he permitted a pair in the sixth when Young and Chen strung together consecutive run-scoring hits.

In the SDCS finale, the Dash will send Brandon Brennan (3-4, 3.55 ERA) to the bump against fellow right-hander Jonathan Martinez (9-2, 2.56 ERA). Catch all of the action on wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn App beginning at 6:45 p.m., with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. MiLB.tv will also carry the games with the Myrtle Beach feed and broadcasters.