Relentless Dash Offense Too Much for Myrtle
Myrtle Beach (29-33, 55-77) tallied a run in the first inning against Dash starter Terry Doyle. Mycal Jones led off the game with a double and scored on Gerry Rodriguez' RBI single. The Pelicans added one more on a solo home run by Matt Kennelly in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Winston-Salem (31-28, 74-55) evened the game in the fourth inning. Gilmore and new Dash outfielder Nick Ciolli singled against Zeke Spruill, who surrendered a two-run double to Luis Sierra to tie the game.
Kennelly blasted another tape-measure shot off Doyle (7-8) to lead off the fifth inning to give Myrtle back the lead. Winston got a run of its own in the fifth when Drew Garcia and Greg Paiml singled to start the inning. Garcia scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Kenny Williams, Jr. to tie the game at three.
The Dash took the lead for good in the sixth inning. Seth Loman doubled and scored on a double by Ciolli. After Sierra reached on a bunt single, Logan Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Ciolli and give Winston a 5-3 lead.
Spruill loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh and was removed by Pelicans manager Rocket Wheeler. Luis Avilan came into the game and got Ciolli to ground into a force out. With the bases still loaded, Sierra hit a sac fly to bring home Gilmore, putting the Dash ahead 6-3.
Gilmore hit a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning to give Winston some insurance. The third baseman snapped out of his slump with a 3 for 5 night, notching two doubles, two RBI, and two runs scored. Gilmore had gone 12 straight games without a multi-hit game before Saturday's outburst.
Outside of the Kennelly homers, Doyle was terrific for the Dash. He picked up the win with seven solid innings, yielding three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. Ryan Kussmaul worked two perfect innings for the save. He struck out four of the six men he faced.
Spruill (3-5) was the loser, allowing six runs on 12 hits in six-plus innings.
After sitting in the bottom half of the Carolina League in batting average for most of August, the Dash put together its third straight game with ten or more hits. Winston has had ten or more hits in six of its last nine games and raised its season average to .288.
Ciolli went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored in his Carolina League debut. Gilmore, Sierra, Loman, and Paiml also had multi-hit games for Winston, which has won the first two games of the series.
The Dash goes for the sweep and the overall regular season series victory on Sunday at 2 p.m. RHP Stephen Sauer (7-10, 5.09) starts opposite of RHP Paul Clemens (0-3, 3.30). The audio broadcast can be heard on www.wsdash.com beginning at 1:45.
Fans may purchase tickets for every Dash game this season by calling the Dash at (336) 714-2287 or visiting www.wsdash.com.