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Pelicans Fall 6-4 to Cannon Ballers on Saturday Night 

June 25, 2022

Myrtle Beach moves to 1-1 in the second half

Myrtle Beach moves to 1-1 in the second half

By Sam Weiderhaft

After taking the first four games of the week, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Saturday night’s contest 6-4 to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. The loss dropped the Pelicans to a 48-20 record and 1-1 in the second half. Kannapolis improved to 27-41 on the year.

Off only five hits, the Pelicans racked up four runs with three coming on a home run from Jacob Wetzel (1-4, HR, 3 RBI). Kevin Alcantara (2-4, R) posted a multi-hit game for the Birds.

Saturday’s loss went to Luke Little (1-3) who pitched just two innings with three earned runs off three hits and four walks. Little also struck out five in the loss. Tyler Santana threw five innings in relief with three earned runs out of the bullpen.

Wilfred Veras (1-4, HR, 3 RBI, BB) blew the game open for the Cannon Ballers with a three-run home run in the seventh inning. Wilber Sanchez 2-4, 3B, RBI, R, BB) smacked the other extra-base hit for Kannapolis with a triple. The Cannon Ballers left 11 runners on base for the game.

The win went to Tyson Messer (3-2) with one scoreless inning in relief with one walk and one strikeout. Nick Gallagher picked up his first save by retiring the game's final batter on a strikeout.

The Cannon Ballers started early with three runs in the bottom of the second. With two runners on and two outs, Sanchez blooped a single to center field to score a run and put runners on the corners. Wes Kath followed with a ground-ball single to left to bring in another run. Little walked the next batter and threw a wild pitch to score the third run.

Three more runs came in the bottom of the seventh for Kannapolis. With one out and runners on first and second, Veras flew his seventh home run of the season to left field to extend the lead to 6-0.

Myrtle Beach put together a late push in the ninth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases to set up Malcom Quintero’s sacrifice fly to right field for the first run of the game. Following a strikeout, Wetzel hit a no-doubt three-run home run to right field for his second of the year as the Pelicans cut the lead down to 6-4. Frank Hernandez went down swinging to end the game.

The series between Myrtle Beach and Kannapolis will come to a close on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.