Rally Comes Up Short, Pelicans Lose to Woodpeckers 4-3
By Sam Weiderhaft After suffering another early deficit, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Wednesday night’s game 4-3 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The Birds have lost four of their first five second-half games and stand at 30-41 overall. With the victory, the Woodpeckers improved to 32-39 and 3-2 in the second
By Sam Weiderhaft
After suffering another early deficit, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped Wednesday night’s game 4-3 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The Birds have lost four of their first five second-half games and stand at 30-41 overall. With the victory, the Woodpeckers improved to 32-39 and 3-2 in the second half.
Three players accounted for the three runs as Reggie Preciado (1-4, 3B, RBI, BB), Andy Garriola (1-3, RBI), and Cristian Hernandez (1-4, RBI) each contributed to the effort. The Birds left seven on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
With three earned runs in the first inning, starter Yenrri Rojas (2-2) took the loss after allowing seven hits and walking two with two strikeouts. Jeral Vizcaino allowed one run in his three innings with four hits allowed.
The Woodpeckers tallied 12 hits while stealing eight bases. Kenni Gomez (2-4, 2B, RBI, BB) posted a multi-hit game with an RBI, and Xavier Casserilla (2-4, RBI) also collected multiple hits with an RBI.
Fayetteville starter Jackson Nezuh (5-4) struck out a career-high eight batters through six innings while allowing one earned run to take the win. Hudson Leach sacrificed two earned runs in his 2 1/3 innings before Amilcar Chirinos retired the final two batters to pick up the save.
For the second night in a row, the Woodpeckers scored three runs in the opening frame. After the first two batters singled and stole second and third, Rojas balked to bring the first run in. Gomez followed with an RBI double to center and later scored on a single by Casserilla.
The Pelicans grabbed one in their half of the first off a sacrifice fly by Garriola to right field to make it 3-1.
The final run for the Woodpeckers came in the fifth when Nehomar Ochoa Jr. lined a single to left to score Gomez from second.
Down by three, the Pelicans stormed back with a two-run eighth. After a leadoff walk, Preciado belted a triple to the wall in left field that scored the run. He would later score on an RBI groundout by Cristian Hernandez to make it a one-run game.
The Pelicans threatened in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on first and second and one out, Chirinos retired the following two batters to end the game.
The series continues on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.