Wood Ducks Come Up Empty Against the Pelicans

KINSTON, NC - The Wood Ducks drew seven walks and collected nine hits but could not dig themselves out of an early hole in Sunday's 9-4 loss to the Pelicans. Chuck Leblanc extended his league lead in RBIs with his 12th in the defeat.

For the third time in the series, the Woodies allowed the Pelicans to score in the first inning. Already trailing 3-0, the Wood Ducks sparked a rally in the bottom of the inning with Alex Kowalczyk's RBI single to bring home LeDarious Clark.
Myrtle Beach would add two more in the third, but again Down East responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Clark led off with a double but wouldn't score until there were two outs on Leblanc's RBI single.
The fourth turned the tide to the Pelicans after scoring four runs with two outs in the frame, highlighted by Tyler Alamo's three-run homer. The Woodies found themselves down 9-2 in that moment. From there on, the bullpen hunkered down as Samir Vivas, Jairo Beras, and James Jones all combined for five and a third innings, two runs, and six strikeouts to close the game.
Two doubles in the seventh from Blaine Prescott and Anderson Tejeda brought home for a run for the Woodies to mark the score 9-3. Then a two-out rally formed in the seventh by loading the bases for Anderson Tejeda. He would walk to bring in the final run as the Wood Ducks left 12 runners on base on Sunday.
The series with the Pelicans ends in a split and the Wood Ducks will look for their first series win of the season with the Winston-Salem Dash. A three-game series begins on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. with lefty Christian Torres on the mound opposite Dane Dunning for the Dash.