Three 3-run innings lift Birds to win

Three separate 3-run innings sent the Pelicans home with the win tonight. The Birds jumped out to an early lead in Augusta plating three runs in the top of the first. Though Augusta fought back and took the lead for a brief moment in the third, two more 3-run innings would follow for the Pelicans in the fourth and ninth, landing them a 9-4 victory.

Ezequiel Pagan started the night with a single up the middle. Yohendrick Pinango followed up with a double to left. After Jonathan Sierra walked to load the bases, Matt Warkentin doubled down the left field line driving in his three teammates. The 3-0 lead was short lived when the GreenJackets answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first.

The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the third when Augusta's Bryson Horne hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning to tie the game. Willie Carter reached on a single to center, stole second, then scored giving the GreenJackets the lead when Brandon Parker singled through the hole at shortstop. But the Birds bounced right back scoring three in the top of the fourth including a solo home run to left field by Warkentin and two-run homer to left by Pagan.

Myrtle Beach held a 6-4 lead until the top of the ninth when they extended that lead by three more runs on hits from Verdugo, Jordan Nwogu, and Pablo Aliendo.

Didier Vargas threw four complete innings with four strikeouts before Alberto Sojo came in to start the fifth inning. Sojo got the win tonight and Carlos Ocampo came in to start the eighth inning and records the save.

The series continues tomorrow in Augusta. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.