Woodies Pelt the Pelicans

8/17/22 Game Recap

by Jackson Pass

A pitching duel commenced between the starters for the second night in a row in game two of the series between the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and the Down East Wood Ducks. Winston Santos was on the bump tonight for the Woodies carving through the Pelicans order in the first three innings, going nine up, nine down against Pelicans batters, with four strikeouts in the process. On the other side, Didier Vargas, gave up three hits through three, but they were all lone inning hits that resulted in the Woodies reaching third in the first and second innings, but failing to bring in a run.

The Woodies got the first run on the board in the fourth inning with Marcus Smith reaching on a walk, stealing second for his 39th bag of the season, and then tagging up on a flyout to right, before scoring on a RBI single by Miguel Villarroel. The Pelicans had no answer in the top of the fifth, as the Woodies tallied one more run to the scorecard on a triple by Daniel Mateo and Cauley receiving a sac fly to score Mateo, which made it 2-0 Woodies up, ending Vargas’ night with 5.0 innings, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts and 2 earned runs.

The Pelicans were looking for a comeback down 2-0 going into the later stages of the game and they put up one run in the top of the seventh with two walks starting the inning off, before a double down the left field line by Ethan Hearn scored Ballesteros from second. The Wood Ducks responded with two more runs in the bottom half with Mateo reaching on a walk, stealing second for his 39th bag of the season, and Yosy Galan delivering a two run blast to extend the lead to 4-1.

New pitcher in for the Woodies in the top of the eighth, Alberto Mota, came in to relieve Santos, who threw 7.0 innings, giving up 2 hits, and 1 run. Mota faced three batters in the eighth, as the Woodies returned with more runs in the bottom of the inning with Abi Ortiz hitting a three run shot to center field to take the lead up to 7-1, before Mota came back out and shut down the Pelicans to get the save on the night.

Daniel Mateo and Miguel Villarroel led the team in hits tonight with 7 to their name, with a 3-4 night for Mateo and a 4-4 night for Villarroel.

The Wood Ducks (56-54) and Myrtle Beach Pelicans (69-41) are tied 1-1 in the series and will play game three on Thursday, August 18th, with the first pitch set for 7:00 p.m. in Kinston, NC at Grainger Stadium.

Fans can purchase tickets on woodducksbaseball.com, by calling the Wood Ducks Team Offices at (252) 686-5164 or in the Wood Ducks Team Offices located at Grainger Stadium (Mon-Fri – 9am - 4pm). Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook so you don’t miss anything!