Cats and Birds Split Tuesday Twin-Bill

ZEBULON, N.C. - Devin Hairston hit a walk-off single in the eighth to lift the Mudcats to a 5-4 victory in game one, but Conor Harber suffered a tough luck loss in game two as Erick Leal and the Pelicans shutout the Mudcats 2-0 in game two in Tuesday's doubleheader split at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.

Alec Bettinger started game one for Carolina (17-14, 51-50) and worked through four scoreless frames with three hits allowed and five strikeouts. Myrtle Beach (13-18, 47-55) starter Tyson Miller outlasted Bettinger and worked through five scoreless innings with three hits, three walks and five strikeouts in his start for the Pelicans.
Nattino Diplan followed Bettinger out of the Carolina bullpen and ended up allowing the Pelicans to take a 1-0 lead in the fifth after giving up a run scoring hit to Roberto Caro. Carolina quickly answered with a bunt RBI single from Ryan Aguilar that scored Weston Wilson from third to tie the game at 1-1. 
Caro, meanwhile, struck again with a two-run home run off Luke Barker in the seventh to lift Myrtle Beach to a 3-1 lead. The Mudcats, however, would answer again as they collected three straight two-out hits and two runs against reliever Jhon Romero in the last of the seventh to tie the game and force extras.
The Carolina seventh included a two-out single from Demi Orimoloye, a two-out double from Weston Wilson and a two-out, two-strikes, two-run single to left-center from Cooper Hummel. 
Game one was locked at 3-3 heading into the eighth before the Pelicans rallied for the go-ahead run against Barker (5-3, 1.99) on a sacrifice fly from Yelier Peguero. The Mudcats, however, answered again as they tied the game with a RBI double off the top of the left-field wall from Dustin Houle (scoring the inserted runner in Ryan Aguilar) and then Hairston's game winning, walk-off single to left.
Barker earned the game one win after allowing three runs (one earned) on one hit over two innings pitched. Peyton (2-3, 2.42) suffered the loss after allowing two unearned runs on three hits in just 2/3 of an inning. Romero (BS, 1) gave up three Carolina runs (two earned) and allowed five hits while suffering his first blown save of the season.
Game one saw a combined nine runs and a combined 18 hits. Game two, meanwhile, saw just two Myrtle Beach runs and a combined nine hits as Harber and Erick Leal started and turned in solid starting efforts.
Harber (4-5, 2.18) took the game two loss despite allowing just one run on five hits over six innings pitched. He also totaled six strikeouts against two walks and worked through his fourth quality start of the season. Harber also lowered his Carolina League leading earned run average to 2.18 on the season.
Leal (1-1, 0.66) started for the Pelicans and pitched through five, nearly perfect, frames and struck out eight. He faced just one over the minimum in game two and left the game with the Pelicans leading 1-0. Reliever Jose Paulino (S, 2) eventually followed and pitched through two scoreless frames with two strikeouts while earning his second save of the year.
Carolina totaled just two hits in the game two loss, with both coming from Orimoloye. The Pelicans totaled seven hits, including run scoring hits from Jose Gutierrez and Jhonny Pereda. Gutierrez went 2-for-2 with two runs and a walk in the game for the Pelicans.
The series, now tied at 1-1, will continue on Wednesday morning beginning at 11:00 AM at Five County Stadium. Carolina will go with starter RHP Victor Diaz in Wednesday's "Super Splash Day" ballgame in Zebulon.
The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network via TuneIn Radio at carolinamudcats.com. It will also be available via live streaming video at MiLB.tv. Tickets are available by visiting the Five County Stadium front office, by calling (919) 269-CATS (2287) and by visiting www.carolinamudcats.com/tickets.
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