Egbert Throws Five Perfect, Pelicans Lose to Nationals 5-2

Kenten Egbert’s 5 2/3 inning outing was the longest by a Pelicans’ pitcher this season

(Larry Kave)

May 16, 2024

By Sam Weiderhaft Both starting pitchers shined as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Thursday night’s contest to the Fredericksburg Nationals 5-2. The Birds’ second loss of the week moved them to a 14-21 record while the Nationals improved to 24-12. Kenten Egbert (1-2) retired the first 15 batters he faced

By Sam Weiderhaft

Both starting pitchers shined as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Thursday night’s contest to the Fredericksburg Nationals 5-2. The Birds’ second loss of the week moved them to a 14-21 record while the Nationals improved to 24-12.

Kenten Egbert (1-2) retired the first 15 batters he faced before allowing two earned runs in the sixth to take the loss. Jeral Vizcaino followed with two more earned runs in his 2 1/3-inning outing. The Pelicans struck out just five, but walked only three in the loss.

Christian Olivo (2-3) and Leonel Espinoza (1-4, 3B, RBI) continued their hot months to pace the Myrtle Beach lineup. Chris Paciolla (1-4, RBI) brought home his second RBI of the season on a single.

In his third professional start, Travis Sykora struck out six through four shutout innings with just one hit allowed and one walk. The win went to Kevin Rodriguez (1-0) after allowing two runs in his lone inning. Thomas Schultz picked up his second save of the series with 1 1/3 innings of shutout baseball.

Every RBI came from a different player for the Nationals as Nate Ochoa (0-3, RBI), Gavin Dugas (0-3, RBI), Jeremy De La Rosa (1-4, HR, RBI), Brandon Pimentel (2-4, 2B, RBI), and Marcus Brown (2-4, 3B, RBI) each provided runs.

Both starters dominated through the first few innings before the Nationals tagged three runs in the top of the sixth. After a lead-off triple by Brown, Ochoa brought him in on a sacrifice fly to left. Dugas later brought home a run with an RBI groundout and De La Rosa finished off the frame with a solo home run to left for his first of the season.

The Pelicans responded quickly in the bottom half as Espinoza knocked in Olivo on an RBI triple to center. Espinoza scored one batter later on an RBI single to shallow center by Paciolla to make it 3-2.

The Nationals grabbed two more insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Pimentel hit an RBI double to right-center in the eighth and Brown brought home the final run on a single in the ninth to make it 5-2.

Myrtle Beach and Fredericksburg will meet for the fourth game of the series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.