Hallmark Homers Again as Fayetteville Falls in Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach, SC - Jaxon Hallmark hit his second home run in as many nights, but the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (37-45, 6-11) could not keep up with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ (56-28, 9-9) offense Thursday night at Pelicans Ballpark. Myrtle Beach won the game 11-4 for their first victory of the series and also snapped a six-game losing streak to Fayetteville dating back to last year.

The Pelicans got on the board in the home half of the second against Woodpeckers starter Deylen Miley (L, 2-5). With one out, Jacob Wenzel cashed in a pair of runs with a single to left. But Hallmark stepped to the plate in the top of the third and cut the lead in half with a solo shot to left field. It was his second homer of the season after being held without one over his first 47 games prior to Wednesday night.

Shea Barry took over on the mound for Fayetteville in the fifth after Fabricio Reina pitched a clean fourth. After the first batter was retired, Myrtle Beach quickly loaded the bases for Ezequiel Pagan. Pagan hit a bloop single behind third base that brought home Kevin Made to make it 3-1. The next batter, Josue Huma, followed with a single of his own before Wetzel had an RBI groundout to grow the lead to four. With two outs, Matt Warkentin grounded one through the left side to bring in both Pagan and Huma to cap off a five-run fifth.

Outside of Hallmark’s home run, the Woodpeckers’ offense was stifled by Pelicans’ starting pitcher Richard Gallardo (W, 5-6), who went six innings and struck out a career-high 13 batters. He managed to strike out the side in three separate innings and fanned every batter in Fayetteville’s lineup at least once.

The Woodpeckers were able to put a small dent in the Pelicans’ lead in the top of the seventh. Leosdany Molina and Tyler Whitaker both singled with one out and advanced to second and third on a balk by Myrtle Beach’s Johzan Oquendo. That set the table for Hallmark with two outs, who singled home Molina to cut the lead down to 7-2. Whitaker dashed home on a wild pitch during the next at bat to bring the deficit back to four.

Despite the pair of runs in the top half, the Pelicans responded with four more runs in the bottom half. Barry retired the first two batters of the inning, but then surrendered a single and a walk before Warkentin added to his big night with an RBI single. This was followed by a Malcom Quintero two-run base hit to give Myrtle Beach double digits in the run column. Quintero later scored on a fielding error to wrap up the scoring for the Pelicans.

Although the game was all but decided heading to the ninth, Hallmark wasn’t finished at the plate. The Fayetteville second baseman had a popup with two outs fall in the outfield grass when Warkentin lost sight of it for his third hit of the night. Rainier Rivas was running on contact and came in to score for Hallmark’s third RBI, but Cody Orr flew out to left to end the ballgame.

Myrtle Beach now has an opportunity to even the series on Friday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The Woodpeckers give the ball to RHP Edinson Batista to try and clinch a series split while the Pelicans send RHP Tyler Santana to the hill. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET.

FULL BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669380/final/box