Pelicans Hold On for 5-3 Win over Fireflies

By Sam Weiderhaft

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans grabbed their third win of the week with a 5-3 victory over the Columbia Fireflies on Friday night. The win moved the Birds to a 65-46 record and 26-20 in the second half, while the Fireflies dropped to 56-55 and 21-25 in the second half. Myrtle Beach goes into Saturday with a chance to clinch the series win.

Brian Kalmer (1-5, 3B, 2 RBI) brought home two with a triple in the top of the third and the Pelicans never looked back. Jefferson Rojas (2-5, HR, RBI) hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh for his sixth of the year. Miguel Pabon (2-3, 2B, BB) reached base three times and scored a run in the win.

In his first Single-A appearance, Landon Ginn (1-0) allowed one earned run through two innings with one strikeout to take the win. Gregori Montano shut the door in the final frame to pick up his second save of the year. Starter Kevin Valdez had a scoreless four-inning outing while walking four and striking out three.

Columbia was held to just six hits as Roger Leyton (1-3, RBI, BB) and Brett Squires (0-3, RBI) were the only two players with RBI. In the final inning, Leyton hit an RBI single and Trevor Werner (1-3, 2B, BB) ended up scoring on a balk to make it a 5-3 game. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Wilmin Candelario (0-4) hit a fly ball to left that was caught and Leyton tagged up too early at third as the Pelicans turned two. Montano got the final out on a fly ball to end the game.

Starter Emmanuel Reyes (0-4) stretched five innings but gave up three earned runs off five hits and two walks to take the loss. The bullpen gave up two more runs and four walks in Columbia’s third loss of the week.

Saturday night’s game between the Pelicans and Fireflies is set for 6:05 p.m.