Hearn, Mervis Homer to Push Pelicans over Fireflies

Unlike last night, the two home runs left the yard for Myrtle Beach as the Pelicans narrowly slipped by the Columbia Fireflies 4-3 on Wednesday night. With the win, the Pelicans come within four games of .500 at 38-42. The Fireflies fall to 38-41 with the loss, with a half-game lead over the Pelicans for second in the South Division.

Myrtle Beach tallied eight hits for the second-straight night at Matt Mervis (3-4, HR, 2B, RBI) came within a triple of the cycle in his second three-hit performance of the year. Ethan Hearn (1-2, HR, 2 RBI) homered for the fifth time this season to bring in two runs. Ed Howard (2-4) also posted multiple hits in the victory.

For the second-straight outing, Didier Vargas started and lasted just four innings. He gave up three earned runs off five hits, including a homer. The win went to Tyler Suellentrop (1-0) in relief, who threw three scoreless innings in his return to the Pelicans with a career-high matching six strikeouts. Danis Correa earned his first save of the year by tossing the final two innings.

Columbia scored just three runs off seven hits with Saul Garza (1-4, HR, 2 RBI) leading the home team with a two-run homer. Kale Emshoff (2-3) was the only Firefly with multiple hits.

Adrian Alcantara (4-5) started the game and lasted 5 1/3 innings with all four earned runs off eight hits. He gave up both home runs to Myrtle Beach while striking out just three.

Myrtle Beach struck first in the second inning as Mervis led off with a double to right field. After the following two batters were retired, Hearn hit a no-doubt home run to right field to give the Pelicans a 2-0 lead. Ed Howard followed by hitting a bloop single to left and was knocked in by Luis Verdugo’s double to right field to make it a three-run inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Diego Hernandez flew a ball to center field that dropped in for a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home to score on a single by Tyler Tolbert to put the Fireflies on the board.

Columbia quickly tied the game in the bottom half of the fourth after Emshoff drew a walk to start. Garza followed with his second home run of the year to right field to tie the game 3-3.

The Pelicans took the lead back in the top of the sixth with Mervis crushing a ball to right field for his ninth home run of the season and Myrtle Beach took a 4-3 lead.

A late rally by the Fireflies had runners on the corners after Omar Hernandez led off the inning with a walk and Gage Hughes walked two batters later. Rubendy Jaquez pinch-ran for Hernandez and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Correa. The following two batters struck out to end the game.

The Pelicans will attempt to take the first three games of the series on Thursday night in Columbia with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m.