Hoover On Point as Pelicans Drop Dash

WINSTON-SALEM, NC- With a victory in the finale against the Salem Red Sox from BB&T Coastal Field, the Pelicans set out on the road to face the front-running Winston-Salem Dash in another tough test against a Southern Division foe. The six-game road trip got off to a good start on Wednesday night in North Carolina as J.J. Hoover tossed seven shutout innings and the Pelicans plated three runs in the seventh frame to take game one from the Dash by the score of 5-2.

Hoover (6-5) experienced a rough patch through three starts before tossing six innings of one-run baseball against Kinston last Friday, and the burly right-hander seems to have righted the ship in a big way. In one of his best starts of the season, Hoover silenced the powerful Dash offense to the tune of no runs on just four hits in seven shutout innings of work, while striking out a season high eight and walking just one. Hoover has lowered his ERA 52 points in his last two starts to 3.83.

The righty was able to get the win thanks to an offense that took advantage of its opportunities against Dash starter Stephen Sauer. The Birds had not faced Sauer (5-6) this season and it showed early as the Birds could not get anything going against the righty. In the fifth, however, Cole Miles knocked a broken bat single through a drawn-in infield to get the Birds on the board by the score of 1-0.

Two innings later, the Pelicans broke the game open with a three-run seventh inning. Three straight hits from Matt Kennelly, Sammy Sime, and Ware opened the frame with Ware's single scoring Kennelly. Facing Dash reliever Hector Santiago, Cory Harrilchak drew a bases loaded walk for his seventh RBI in his last three games, and Luis Sumoza knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly.

The Dash cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the eighth inning against Luis Avilan on a Jon Gilmore single, but both of those runs were unearned. In the ninth, Sumoza ripped a single to center to get one of those runs back and push the Pelican lead to 5-2.

In the bottom half, Ty'Relle Harris came on for his first save opportunity as a member of the Pelicans and the righty set down the Dash in order, striking out one in the process.

These two teams will be back tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 7 ET. Phenom Julio Teheran will take the hill for the Pelicans facing righty Terry Doyle. You can catch all the action on ESPN Radio, the Team and myrtlebeachpelicans.com.

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