Myrtle Beach falls despite Morrison's gem

SALEM, Va. (July 29, 2016) - Preston Morrison fired six shutout innings in his High-A debut, but the Salem Red Sox scored three in the seventh Friday to vault over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3-1 at LewisGale Field.

Morrison dueled with Salem (62-41, 19-15) starter Matt Kent to head to the seventh with no score. The Myrtle Beach (54-51, 18-17) right-hander scattered five hits and a walk around six strikeouts in his six shutout frames. Morrison has allowed just one earned run in his last eight starts, seven of which came at the Low-A level, covering 45.2 innings for a 0.20 ERA in that span.

Kent also went six frames, yielding just three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

With there still no score in the seventh, Yasiel Balaguert singled and Donnie Dewees doubled with one out. Salem reliever Bobby Poyner (1-1) then intentionally walked Jeffrey Baez to load the bases with one out. However, Erick Castillo struck out and Daniel Spingola fouled out to get Poyner through a tumultuous scoreless frame.

That proved huge in the bottom of the seventh. Pelicans reliever Daury Torrez (1-2) surrendered a one-out double to Jayce Ray before Deiner Lopez broke the scoreless tie with a single to center. Joseph Monge then tripled in Lopez and scored two batters later on an RBI ground out to make it 3-0.

In the eighth, Bryant Flete singled with two outs before racing in to score on David Bote's RBI double to center, getting the Birds to within 3-1. However, Balaguert grounded out before the Birds went down in order in the ninth as Jamie Callahan picked up his fourth save of the season.

RHP Jonathan Martinez (8-5, 4.07 ERA) makes the start in Saturday's 6:05 p.m. contest against Salem LHP Trey Ball (5-4, 3.79 ERA). Coverage begins at 5:50 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn.

The 2016 season is the 18th season for the Pelicans franchise and second as the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. For information on tickets to see the Pelicans in 2016, please call (843) 918-6000, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.MyrtleBeachPelicans.com.

ABOUT THE PELICANS: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play their home games at TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The park has ranked in the top eight in all of Minor League Baseball by Stadium Journey in each of the last five seasons. The same publication also placed the Pelicans in the Top 100 Stadium Experiences in all of sports in each of the last five years and the best in the Carolina League for five straight seasons as well. In May 2015, TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark won the 2015 TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence award. The Pelicans are the defending Mills Cup Champions, winning the title in 2015 as well as 2000 and co-Mills Cup championship honors in the inaugural 1999 season. The Pelicans have made nine postseason appearances behind 11 half-season Southern Division championships, including the first half of the 2015 season, as well as five Southern Division titles, most recently in 2015. For more information on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, please contact the Pelicans at (843) 918-6000 or emailing [email protected].