Wood Ducks Drop Tight One with Pelicans

A crowd of over 3,000 supported the Woodies until the final out

By Dominic Cotroneo

July 1, 2017

KINSTON, NC - Down East's (5-4, 29-49) three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night in a 4-1 defeat to the Pelicans (3-6, 46-33). Richelson Peña delivered his ninth quality start of the season but was still charged with the loss. Brallan Perez added a two-hit night for the offense but

KINSTON, NC - Down East's (5-4, 29-49) three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night in a 4-1 defeat to the Pelicans (3-6, 46-33). Richelson Peña delivered his ninth quality start of the season but was still charged with the loss. Brallan Perez added a two-hit night for the offense but was left stranded.

The game started in a completely different fashion on Matt Lipka's leadoff triple in the bottom of the first. Eduard Pinto pushed a ground ball to short on the next pitch and allowed Lipka to score. It was an earned run off the league's ERA leader, Justin Steele.
Pena could not obtain a shutdown inning in the second when Matt Rose went deep to center for a two-run blast, his 12th of the season.
In the third, the Wood Ducks had a prime opportunity to tie the game with runners on second and third and one out. Pinto was the batter again and after a ball missed outside, Pelican catcher PJ Higgins threw a back-pick to third and nabbed Shaq Matta for the second out if the inning. On the next pitch, Pinto would fly out to right to end the inning instead of a potential sac fly.
Both pitchers hit grooves for the middle three innings as Pena collected six strikeouts on the night. Peter Fairbanks and Dakota Mekkes worked scoreless seventh innings for the bullpens after the starters both exited after six.
Top Cubs prospect Eloy Jiménez would tag Fairbanks with a two-run double to left field in the eighth add insurance for the Pelicans and lead 4-1.
Down East would not manage another hit on the evening and fail to extend the winning streak past three games for the third time this season.
Game three of the series is on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Down East will have right-hander Jonathan Hernández (1-2, 4.71) against Adbert Alzolay (7-1, 2.85) for Myrtle Beach.
After the game kids can run the bases and all Lil' Dewd Kids Club members can attend the game for free with a purchased adult ticket. You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.