Birds stay hot; fend off Buies Creek

Pelicans win 7-4 for 10th victory in 12 games

P.J. Higgins went 3-for-5 with an RBI Tuesday in Myrtle Beach's 7-4 win at Buies Creek. (Larry Kave/Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

By Scott Kornberg

June 5, 2018

LILLINGTON, N.C. (June 5, 2018) - Both P.J. Higgins and Jhonny Pereda registered three hits Tuesday and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans notched their 10th win in 12 games with a 7-4 victory at the Buies Creek Astros from Jim Perry Stadium.Myrtle Beach (28-29) opened up the scoring in their first at-bats.

LILLINGTON, N.C. (June 5, 2018) - Both P.J. Higgins and Jhonny Pereda registered three hits Tuesday and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans notched their 10th win in 12 games with a 7-4 victory at the Buies Creek Astros from Jim Perry Stadium.
Myrtle Beach (28-29) opened up the scoring in their first at-bats. Aramis Ademan tripled against Buies Creek (32-25) starter Carson LaRue (3-3) with one out. Higgins promptly singled Ademan in to make it 1-0.

The score remained that way until the fourth. Higgins and Pereda each singled to start the inning. Two batters later, Kevonte Mitchell , who bagged a pair of doubles, blasted an RBI two-bagger to push the Pelicans' advantage to 2-0.
However, Buies Creek answered right back. Ronnie Dawson smashed a home run to dead center field off Birds starter Bryan Hudson (4-4) to halve the Myrtle Beach lead. Hudson went 5.2 frames, yielding three runs on five hits to earn the win.
In the fifth, Luis Ayala tripled with one out and came in to score on Andruw Monasterio's sacrifice fly. However, the Astros again had an immediate answer; Osvaldo Duarte drew a walk with one out and scored from first on Abraham Toro's RBI double.
Up 3-2, the Pelicans put together a big sixth inning. Pereda singled to begin the frame. Two batters later, Mitchell doubled him to third before Connor Myers socked a two-run single. After a fly out, Ayala looped in an RBI double to left to push the tally to 6-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Luis Payano doubled to lead things off. He moved to third on a ground out and scored on Chuckie Robinson's sacrifice fly to put the score at 6-3.
Ademan reached on a leadoff walk in the seventh. Higgins and Pereda then singled to load the bases with nobody out. After a strikeout, Mitchell lifted a sacrifice fly to push the score to 7-3.
The tally remained that way until the ninth. With two outs, Duarte, who had doubled, scored on a J.J. Matijevic infield single coupled with a Pelicans error. However, Tyler Peyton struck out Dawson as the tying run to end the ballgame.
The Birds look for their season-best fifth straight win in Wednesday's 6 p.m. contest. RHP Alex Lange (3-2, 3.26 ERA) starts for Myrtle Beach against Buies Creek RHP Brandon Bailey (1-5, 3.61 ERA). Coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn.
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. Since being acquired by a group led by Chuck Greenberg during the 2006 season, the Pelicans have repeatedly set team attendance records and become known as one of Minor League Baseball's most innovative and creative franchises. The team and its employees have been dedicated to making a difference in the Myrtle Beach community, specifically giving back over $2 million in donations, fundraising proceeds, in-kind services and community service since launching the Pelicans Play It Forward Community Initiative in 2013. TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark 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. In June 2017, the Pelicans won the 2017 TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence award. On the field, the team has 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 email [email protected].