Birds fall in 10 innings to Woodies on Leblanc's walk-off homer

KINSTON, N.C. (May 8, 2018) - Charles Leblanc blasted a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning in Wednesday's rubber game for the Down East Wood Ducks to topple the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4-2 from Grainger Stadium. 
The Pelicans (13-20) led 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th inning, but Down East (17-16) put runners on the corners with no one out. Leblanc crushed a Wyatt Short (0-1) pitch over the left field foul poll, his second homer of the game, to win the contest for the Woodies. 

Bryan Hudson started the game for Myrtle Beach and threw well. The lefty allowed only one run on three hits over six innings of work while striking out five. He did not walk a batter. At one point, Hudson retired 11 straight batters. 
The lone run that Hudson yielded was a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning by Leblanc. 
In the top of the eighth, the Birds fought back to tie the game. P.J. Higgins scored on a Wladimir Galindo RBI double to knot the game at 1-1. That tie held, and for the first time this season for the Pelicans, the game entered extra innings.
With the new rules in Minor League Baseball, the batter who was up last in the previous inning starts at second base to begin the new frame. In the top of the 10th, Connor Myers began the frame at second and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Andruw Monasterio to make it 2-1 in favor. 
That set up the bottom of the 10th inning for Leblanc to win it. 
Tyler Peyton and Jordan Minch were both solid out of the bullpen, combining to toss three scoreless innings to guide the game into extra innings. 
The Pelicans will return home next to start a four-game tilt against the Buies Creek Astros with Thursday's 7:05 p.m. first pitch. The Birds will send RHP Alex Lange (1-1, 4.15 ERA) against the Astros' Abdiel Saldana (3-0, 1.91 ERA). Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on MiLB.tv, MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app. 
Thursday is a Thirsty Thursday presented by Celebrations Nitelife, Better Brands, WBTW and Axelrod, featuring $1 Bud and Bud Light Drafts, $2 16 oz. cans and half-price Duplin Wine from 6 to 8 p.m.
The 2018 season is the 20th season for the Pelicans franchise and fourth as the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. For tickets visit MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/tickets, call (843) 918-6000, or visit the Pelicans Box Office.
ABOUT THE PELICANS: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play their home games at TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The park has ranked in the top eight in all of Minor League Baseball by Stadium Journey in six of the last seven seasons. The same publication also placed the Pelicans in the Top 100 Stadium Experiences and the best in the Carolina League for six of the past seven seasons as well. In June 2017, TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark won the 2017 TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence award. The Pelicans have won four Mills Cup Championships, including claims to back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000, and again in 2015 and 2016. The Pelicans have made 11 postseason appearances behind 13 half-season Southern Division championships, including the first half of the 2015 season, second half of 2016 and first half of 2017. For more information on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, please contact the Pelicans at (843) 918-6000 or emailing [email protected].