Columbia Scores Seven Unanswered, Walks Off Winners on Pelicans 10-8

By Sam Weiderhaft

After leading by five following the sixth inning, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans sacrificed seven unanswered runs as Erick Pena hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Columbia Fireflies a 10-8 win on Wednesday night. The Pelicans have dropped the first two games of this series and now hold a 12-10 record. The Fireflies improved to 15-8 with the dramatic win.

It was a great night at the plate for Myrtle Beach with 13 hits and five different players posting multi-hit performances. Miguel Pabon (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI) led the charge with a double and three RBIs. Reivaj Garcia (2-5, 2B, RBI) continued his hot streak with an RBI double. Felix Stevens (2-4, 2B, RBI, BB) and Rafael Morel (2-4, 2B, RBI) also contributed to the offensive effort.

The pitching had a night to forget after surrendering 14 hits and 10 runs. Yovanny Cabrera (0-2) gave up the walk-off home run to take the loss. Branden Noriega allowed four earned runs in the eighth. Starter Cade Horton gave up the first two earned runs of his professional career in his four-inning outing while adding seven strikeouts.

Pena (3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB) had a multi-home run game with both being two-run shots. Jean Ramirez (3-5, RBI) smashed three singles from the lead-off spot and Dionmy Salon (4-4, 2B, RBI, BB) reached base five times with a double and a run driven in. In the two games this series, the Fireflies have posted 22 runs.

After a rocky start, the Columbia bullpen got things under control as Chazz Martinez (1-3) picked up his first win of the year by throwing a shutout top of the ninth. Starter Oscar Rayo allowed six runs, two earned in his three innings of work off seven hits and a walk while striking out four.

The Pelicans jumped to an early lead with a four-run first. With the bases loaded and one out, Garcia scored from third on a balk by Rayo. After a strikeout, Pabon lined a single to left to plate the other two runners. Morel followed with a two-out single to put runners on the corners. Rayo made a pickoff move to first as Morel got caught in a rundown, but not before Pabon broke for the plate from third and scored before Morel was tagged out for a 4-0 Myrtle Beach lead.

Two more runs came in for the Birds in their half of the third. With two outs and Stevens on second after his double, Pabon shot a double down the left field line to bring home his third RBI of the day. Morel followed with a double to left to score Pabon as the Pelicans extended their lead to 6-0.

Columbia first got on the board with a two-run bottom of the fourth. With one out and a runner on, Pena took a 1-0 pitch from Horton over the wall in right for a two-run home run to make it 6-2 Pelicans.

Both teams scored one in the fifth as Stevens grounded an RBI single up the middle to give the Pelicans one back.

Lizandro Rodriguez hit a two-out RBI triple to right field that scored Ramirez from first for Columbia to bring the Pelicans lead back to four runs at 7-3.

The final run for the away team came in the top of the sixth. With two outs and a runner on third, Garcia lined a double to deep center to score the run and put the Birds up by five.

The Fireflies’ rally began with a four-run eighth inning. With Noriega on the mound, Salmon hit an RBI single with runners in first and second. Pena drew a walk to load the bases and Brett Squires scored from third on a balk by Noriega as both runners moved to second and third. David Hollie followed with a single that bounced off Noriega as Salmon came home. After Cabrera came out of the bullpen and struck out the first batter he faced for the second out, Ramirez bunted Pena in from third and made it to first safely as the Fireflies came within one.

Columbia kept it going with their three-run ninth to win it. Rodriguez began the inning with a single and Salmon hit a one-out single to put the tying and winning runs on base. After a double steal, Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch by Cabrera to tie the game. Pena ended the game on a 3-1 pitch as his moonshot home run went over the wall in right-center to give the Fireflies the 10-8 win.

Myrtle Beach and Columbia will meet for game three on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.