Myrtle Beach Falls in Extra-Innings Contest with Lynchburg 3-1

By Sam Weiderhaft

In a game that didn’t see its first run until the top of the eighth, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped the series opener to the Lynchburg Hillcats 3-1 on Tuesday night. The loss brings the Pelicans to a 14-13 record while the Hillcats improved to .500 at 14-14.

Offensively, the Birds stalled with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-12 in the game despite collecting eight hits. The lone run came from Andy Garriola (1-1, RBI) with his single in the bottom of the ninth. Felix Stevens (2-4, 2B) racked up two more hits to follow up his three-hit performance on Sunday.

Angel Hernandez (0-2) took the loss after allowing two runs, one earned in the top of the 10^th. Grant Kipp had arguably his best start of the year with 3 2/3 shutout innings after walking the first two batters. Kipp struck out three and gave way to Yovanny Cabrera, who kept Lynchburg scoreless through his three hitless frames and three strikeouts.

All seven of Lynchburg’s hits were singles with Nate Furman (2-4, 2 RBI, BB) providing the big blow with a two-run single in the 10^th. The Hillcats stranded six and went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Tuesday’s win went to Shawn Rapp (1-0) after allowing one earned run in his two frames off two hits and a walk while striking out two. Starter Austin Peterson started the game off with five scoreless innings with just one walk and four strikeouts. Zachary Jacobs followed with three more scoreless innings and five strikeouts on his stat line.

The game remained scoreless with both pitching staff’s relying on the defense to give their lineups opportunities. The Pelican turned two double plays while the Hillcats turned one.

Lynchburg struck first in the top of the eighth. After two straight singles by Marc Filia and Lexer Saduy, Furman put runners on the corners with a groundout to second as Saduy went down on the force-out. With Filia on third, pitcher Saul Gonzalez threw a wild pitch to bring the run home.

Stevens led off the Pelicans’ half of the ninth with a bloop hit to shallow right field that bounced near the line as Stevens went to second for a lead-off double. Parker Chavers drew a walk and Juan Mora struck out to bring up Garriola. On the first pitch, Garriola chopped a single up the middle to score Stevens from second and tied the game. The Pelicans stranded the winning run on third as Pedro Ramirez and Reginald Preciado were both retired to end the inning.

Before a pitch was thrown in the top of the tenth, Hernandez was called for a balk to move the runner at second over to third. Juan Benjamin drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position. After Hernandez struck out the next two, Furman took a 1-2 pitch to right field to score both runners for a 3-1 Hillcats lead.

The Pelicans went down in order in the bottom of the 10^th.

Game two of the series is slated for Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.