Pelicans Shutout RiverDogs in Final Road Game of the Season

By Sam Weiderhaft

It’s the first time Charleston has been blanked since June 12th

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans pitching staff held one of the top teams in the minors to just six hits and no runs on Sunday night with a 4-0 win in the series finale. The matchup was the final road game of the 2021 season as the Pelicans move to 57-57 and 30-30 on the road. The victory was also manager Buddy Bailey’s 2,200th career win. The RiverDogs drop to 80-35 with the loss as they were shut out for just the fourth time this season and first since June 12th.

Christian Franklin (2-3, 2 2B) led the visiting order with a pair of doubles while Jordan Nwogu (1-3, 2B, RBI) brought home a run with a double. Owen Caissie (1-5, RBI) collected the other RBI for Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach received a great outing from starter Porter Hodge (1-0) as he tossed 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball in just his second start of the year. He also struck out six without giving up a walk with six hits. Riley Martin and Jarod Wright combined to toss the final 2 2/3 innings with just two hits allowed and four strikeouts.

Charleston was held to just six hits for the game as Beau Brundage (2-4, 2B) and Matt Dyer (2-4, 3B) both tallied multi-hit games with the only extra-base hits.

Five different pitchers made appearances for the RiverDogs with Neraldo Catalina (2-1) took the loss after he opened with just one inning pitched. Catalina gave up three runs with two being earned in the opening frame off one hit. Franklin Dacosta took a majority of the innings with seven strikeouts through five frames and one earned run.

It was a strong start for the Pelicans as Franklin and Josue Huma walked to start the game. With one out, Caissie hit a ground ball to right that got in for a single as Franklin scored the first run. Felix Stevens followed and was hit by a pitch that landed on his face, taking him out of the game. Jonathan Sierra would replace him as the bases loaded. Catalina threw a wild pitch in the at-bat following to make it 2-0 Myrtle Beach. After Peter Matt grounded out, Ed Howard reached base on a fielding error at third as Caissie scored.

One more run came in the fifth as Franklin doubled to lead off. He moved to third on a balk by Dacosta and scored on a one-out double by Nwogu to extend the lead to 4-0.

Charleston put two runners on in the ninth but failed to score on Wright as he closed out the game by retiring the final two batters.

The series ends in a tie with both teams taking three games.

The Pelicans will return home for the final series of the season against the Augusta GreenJackets. The opener is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.