Pelicans Fall 4-1 to Fireflies on Thursday Night

By Sam Weiderhaft

In their final game in the “Pirate Pelican” uniforms this season, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Thursday night’s contest 4-1 to the Columbia Fireflies. The loss put the Birds at a 73-54 record and 34-28 in the second half while the Fireflies moved up to 65-63 and 30-33 in the second half. The Pelicans enter the weekend up two games to one in the final regular season series.

It was a quiet night for the Pelicans’ lineup as only one run came home on an RBI single by Ismael Mena (1-3, RBI, BB) in the second. Pedro Ramirez (2-4, 2B) and David Avitia (2-4) each logged multi-hit games in the loss.

Luis Rujano (0-4) took the loss with two earned runs in his lone inning of work off two hits and two walks. Starter Drew Gray tossed three one-run innings with five strikeouts, and reliever Eligio Paredes had a solid outing with 3 2/3 shutout innings and just two hits allowed with a pair of strikeouts.

Columbia’s lineup was efficient, turning six hits into four runs. Just one player was credited with an RBI as Lizandro Rodriguez (1-4, RBI) brought home a run on a single in the fourth. Trevor Werner (2-4, 2B) continued his hot streak with a multi-hit performance and two runs scored in the win.

Only three arms were used by the Fireflies with starter Ben Hernandez (2-3) stretching across six innings with one earned run. Nicholas Regalado earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning. The Fireflies struck out just three in the winning performance.

For the second time this series, the Fireflies scored in the opening frame. After the first two batters were retired, Werner hit a double on a pop-up that fell in shallow right field. He stole third and came home to score on a wild pitch for the game’s first run.

The Pelicans evened the score on Mena’s RBI infield single to second base in the bottom of the second.

A two-run fourth for the Fireflies pushed them in front. With Werner on second, Rodriguez grounded a single to center to score the run. Rodriguez would later score on a wild pitch by Rujano as the Fireflies took a 3-1 lead.

The Fireflies added one more insurance run in the top of the ninth. With one out and runners on second and third, Daniel Vazquez flew a ball to right that hit off the glove of Rafael Morel to score the run from third and extended the lead to 4-1.

Friday night’s game is set for 7:05 p.m. for the fourth contest of the series.