Lange's gem not enough in one-hit loss

LYNCHBURG, Va. (June 21, 2018) - Alex Lange fired six excellent innings Thursday, but the Myrtle Beach Pelicans were one-hit in a 1-0 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats from Calvin Falwell Field at Lynchburg City Stadium.
Lynchburg (30-38, 1-0) starter Eli Morgan (3-2) matched a career-high with nine strikeouts in six no-hit innings, yielding just a walk to Connor Myers in the third. It took Myrtle Beach (34-37, 0-1) until two outs in the eighth for Andruw Monasterio to muster the club's first hit with a triple. However, Ben Krauth stranded Monasterio on third and James Karinchak pitched a hitless ninth for his sixth save.

Lange (4-4) yielded only a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to Mitch Longo. The right-hander whiffed seven against two walks in six frames, surrendering just four hits. Erick Leal and Jose Paulino each pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
The loss was the Pelicans' eighth in the last nine games, and the Birds have plated two runs or fewer in eight consecutive contests.
RHP Cory Abbott (1-1, 4.50 ERA) starts for Myrtle Beach in Friday's 6:30 p.m. contest against Hillcats RHP Zach Plesac (4-3, 4.98 ERA). Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on MiLB.tv, MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn.
The 2018 season is the 20th season for the Pelicans franchise and fourth as the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. For tickets visit MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/tickets, call (843) 918-6000, or visit the Pelicans Box Office.
ABOUT THE PELICANS: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play their home games at TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The park has ranked in the top eight in all of Minor League Baseball by Stadium Journey in six of the last seven seasons. The same publication also placed the Pelicans in the Top 100 Stadium Experiences and the best in the Carolina League for six of the past seven seasons as well. In June 2017, TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark won the 2017 TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence award. The Pelicans have won four Mills Cup Championships, including claims to back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000, and again in 2015 and 2016. The Pelicans have made 11 postseason appearances behind 13 half-season Southern Division championships, including the first half of the 2015 season, second half of 2016 and first half of 2017. For more information on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, please contact the Pelicans at (843) 918-6000 or emailing [email protected].