Pitching Powers Pelicans to 8-1 Win over GreenJackets

By Sam Weiderhaft

Pelicans move back to the .500 mark with the victory

Myrtle Beach earned their second win of the series on Saturday night with an 8-1 win over Augusta. The win is the second in a row for the Pelicans, who had previously lost four straight games. Myrtle Beach gets back to .500 at 17-17, while Augusta falls down to 16-19.

The pitching staff stole the show for the Birds, with only four hits allowed and one run to the GreenJackets. Richard Gallardo (1-2) took the win with a season-high five innings pitched with only one hit allowed and four strikeouts. The Bullpen of Danis Correa, Jeremiah Estrada, and Carlos Ocampo held down the fort with four scoreless innings.

Home runs powered the Pelicans’ lineup as Luis Verdugo (1-3, HR, 2 RBI) and Matt Mervis (1-5, HR, 2 RBI) both went deep in the victory. Yohendrick Pinango (2-5) posted his third consecutive multi-hit game in this series.

GreenJackets starting pitcher Jared Johnson (0-1) would take the loss in his first game after allowing three runs off three hits in his 2.2 innings of work.

Augusta was held to just four hits for the evening, with Javier Valdes (2-3, 2B, RBI) collecting half of the production.

Both teams were scoreless through the first inning, and the Pelicans took the first lead of the game in the second. The first two batters were retired by Jared Johnson before Jordan Nwogu drew a walk to get on base. Verdugo came up and took the first pitch of the at-bat to deep left field for his second home run of the season, and the Pelicans went up 2-0.

Augusta responded with a run in their half of the second. Willie Carter led off the inning with a drive to right field that barely stayed in the park, as he got to third base on a fielding error by Jonathan Sierra. Javier Valdes came up next and hit an infield single that third baseman Ryan Reynolds threw wildly to first, allowing Carter to score and make it a 2-1 game.

The Pelicans added one more in the top of the third inning. Jacob Wetzel hit a one-out double to right field and moved up to third on a balk by Johnson. He would come home to score on a sacrifice fly to center field by Flemin Bautista to extend the lead 3-1.

Myrtle Beach added another insurance run in the fourth inning. Reynolds walked to lead off the inning, and the next two Birds’ batters were struck out. Sierra drew a two-out walk to put two runners on, and Ethan Hearn lined a ball in the right-field corner for a double that brought in Reynolds and the Pelican lead was 4-1.

Mervis broke the game open for Myrtle Beach in the seventh with a two-run home run to right field, his third of the year. The Pelicans commanded the game with a 6-1 lead.

Two more runs came home for the Pelicans in the ninth inning with Wetzel scoring on a passed ball and Bautista touching home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 8-1.

The Pelicans and GreenJackets will meet for the sixth and final game on Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. Myrtle Beach will try and tie the series, with Augusta up three games to two.