Hitting Runs Cold as Pelicans Fall to Wood Ducks 

By Sam Weiderhaft

Myrtle Beach turned five hits into just two runs in the game five loss

In front of the second sellout crowd of the week, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans fell to the Down East Wood Ducks 4-2 on Saturday night. The second night of the Red, White, and Blue weekend saw a turnout of 6,599 fans with a postgame fireworks show to cap it all off. The Pelicans now trail three games to two in the series and drop to 23-29, while the Wood Ducks move up to 30-22 for the season.

After two encouraging hitting performances, the lineup fell flat with just five hits. Jordan Nwogu (1-3, RBI) brought in his fifth run of the series with Kevin Made (1-3, RBI) collecting his first RBI of the season. Ryan Reynolds (1-4, 2B, R) doubled for the fourth time this series in the defeat.

The loss went to Jose Miguel Gonzalez (2-2) after lasting four innings with three earned runs off five hits. The Pelicans pitching staff only struck out four batters all game with five walks.

The Wood Ducks bounced back after losing two straight with eight hits, including multi-hit games from Alejandro Osuna (2-4, 2B, RBI) and Thomas Saggese (2-3). Luisangel Acuna (1-3, RBI) picked up his sixth hit of the series in the win.

Nick Krauth (2-2) went a career-high 6.1 innings with five hits allowed and two earned runs. The outing is the longest seen at Pelicans Ballpark this season. Spencer Mraz earned his fifth save of the year after shutting the door on the Pelicans with two strikeouts in the final inning.

The big inning for Down East was the third as three runs came across to take an early advantage. Keithron Moss walked to lead off the inning and came home after Acuna drilled a line drive to the center-field wall for an RBI double. After Dustin Harris grounded out to get Acuna to third, Cody Freeman hit a sharp ground ball that deflected off shortstop Ed Howard’s glove and into left field to bring in Acuna. Freeman advanced to second on a wild pitch from Gonzalez, and the Wood Ducks put runners on the corners after Keyber Rodriguez reached base on an error by Howard. Osuna came up and blasted a pitch to center field that easily scored Freeman but the throw-in from in from Jacob Wetzel that was cut off by Flemin Bautista and thrown home was in time to catch Rodriguez. After the play at the plate, catcher Pablo Aliendo turned and threw to third where Osuna was tagged out for a double play to end the inning with the Wood Ducks up 3-0.

The Pelicans responded with a run in the bottom half with Fabian Pertuz roping a ball to left field into the corner for a one-out double. After Pertuz advanced to third with a Howard groundout, Made chopped a ball to third base that he scored Pertuz, and Made beat the throw to first for an RBI single.

The Wood Ducks tacked on one more insurance run in the fifth inning with Moss speeding around the bases for a triple to start the inning off. Two batters later, Harris hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give Down East a 4-1 lead.

One more run came across for the Pelicans after the stretch in the seventh with Reynolds leading the inning off with a double to right field. Nwogu came up two batters later and lined a single to right field to bring in Reynolds and make it a 4-2 game.

Mraz came in for Down East in the ninth out of the bullpen and struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Myrtle Beach and Down East will cap off the series on Sunday night at 7:05 p.m. for the final game of the Red, White, and Blue weekend.