Birds Plate Three in Ninth Inning, Win Series Opener 5-4 over Cannon Ballers

By Sam Weiderhaft

Entering the ninth inning down by two, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans scored three runs and took down the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5-4 on Tuesday night in the first game of the series. Drew Bowser led the inning off with a solo homer, Reggie Preciado hit an RBI single to tie it and Alexis Hernandez scored from second on a wild pitch. The Pelicans improved to 28-35 while the Cannon Ballers dropped to 39-24.

Three players went deep for the Pelicans on solo homers with Alfonsin Rosario (1-3, HR, RBI, BB), Jacob Wetzel (1-5, HR, RBI), and Bowser (2-4, HR, RBI) all leaving the yard. Preciado (2-5, RBI) finished with two hits including the game-tying RBI single.

Myrtle Beach used just two pitchers as Angel Hernandez (1-1) grabbed the win with one earned run across four innings with three strikeouts. Starter Kenten Egbert lasted five innings with three runs, two earned allowed, and five strikeouts.

Mikey Kane (2-3, HR, RBI, BB) led the Kannapolis offense with a solo homer and a multi-hit game. Rikuu Nishida (2-5, 3B, RBI) brought home a run on an RBI triple in the seventh inning.

Nick Altermatt (3-3) blew the save and took the loss after allowing three earned runs in the final inning. Starter Jack Bockenstedt sacrificed just one run through the first five innings while striking out six batters.

Wednesday features a doubleheader between the Pelicans and Cannon Ballers with the first game starting at 5:00 p.m.