Pelicans Slip, Fall 11-0 to the RiverDogs

By Sam Weiderhaft

It’s the seventh time Myrtle Beach has been shutout this season

Wednesday night belonged to the Charleston RiverDogs as they picked up their 11th shutout of the season with an 11-0 route of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The Pelicans’ three-game winning streak was snapped as they dropped to 32-36 on the season. The RiverDogs improved to 47-19 on the year.

The hitting stalled for Myrtle Beach as the lineup only gathered four hits and went 0-4 with runners in scoring position. Ethan Hearn (1-3, BB) reached base twice with a walk and a single, while Luis Verdugo (1-4, 2B) was the only Pelicans with an extra-base hit.

The arms also struggled in the game against one of Minor League Baseball’s highest-powered offenses. Starting pitcher Jose Miguel Gonzalez (2-4) took the loss after tossing the first four innings, allowing five earned runs off seven hits with one home run allowed. Adam Heidenfelder had a tough debut for Myrtle Beach with 2/3 of an inning pitched in relief with five earned runs off four hits and two walks.

Every RiverDog batter reached base as the lineup collected 13 hits for the evening. Brett Wisely (3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI) and Logan Driscoll (3-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI) both had monster nights with two extra-base hits while Diego Infante (1-4, 2B, 3 RBI) led the visitors with three runs batted in.

The RiverDogs only threw three pitchers with Trey Cumbie (3-1) taking the win with three innings pitched in relief with just one hit allowed and five strikeouts. Jose Lopez started the game and allowed three hits in four innings while walking three and striking out four.

Charleston took an early lead in the second as Driscoll drove a double to right field with one out. After the next batter was retired and Garrett Hiott walked, Alexander Ovalles hit a line-drive single to right field to score Driscoll for the game's first run.

Driscoll took the first pitch of the inning over the right-field wall for his second home run of the season as Charleston took a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

In the next inning, three runs came across as Alika Williams led off with a double and the following two batters walked to load the bases. Infante came up next and punched a double to left field that scored two runs and extended the Charleston lead to 4-0. Gonzalez was taken out for reliever Jarod Wright as Driscoll immediately followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to plate the third run of the inning.

Brett Wisely homered to right-center field in the seventh inning for his eighth of the year as the RiverDogs went up 6-0.

The floodgates would open in the top of the eighth as Heidenfelder came on for his first appearance in a Pelicans uniform. He gave up a single and a walk in his first two batters but picked up the first out on a ground ball to Kevin Made at third for a force-out. The following throw to first was too short and allowed both runners to advance to second and third. Williams came up next and with the infield in, hit a single to center field that scored both runs. Osleivis Basabe followed with another single that hit off Heidenfelder and was fielded by the shortstop Ed Howard. After a mound visit, @isely hit a single that scored Williams and moved Basabe to third base. Infante then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Basabe and make it a 10-0 RiverDogs lead. The following two batters would walk to lead up the bases, and Hiott made it three walks in a row after Jake Reindl came in to pitch as Wisely scored the 11th run of the game.

The Pelicans and RiverDogs will play the third game of the series on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. as both teams have split the opening two contests.