Road Trip Concludes with 7-4 Win over Pelicans 

The Charleston RiverDogs used their biggest inning of the season to hold off the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in Sunday’s series finale at Pelicans Ballpark. The Dogs finished the week with a 2-4 record.

Charleston (21-29) jumped on Myrtle Beach starter Alfredo Romero for a first inning run. With two outs, Angel Mateo worked a base on balls and stole second base to move into scoring position. Blake Robertson followed with a base hit to right field and Mateo slid in safely on a close play at the plate to make it 1-0.

Myrtle Beach (23-27) answered right back against Gary Gill Hill in the bottom of the frame. Jacob Wetzel doubled with one out to start the attack. Cristian Hernandez followed by drawing a walk and Alfonsin Rosario evened the game with an RBI single. Two batters later, Frank Hernandez gave the Pelicans the lead with an RBI single of his own.

Carlos Colmenarez started the second inning with a bunt single and came all the way around to score the tying run. He stole second base, advanced to third on a groundball and scored via wild pitch.

The RiverDogs gained some separation with a massive third inning. The frame started with a single from Enzo Paulino and two walks followed to load the bases. Woo Shin gave the RiverDogs the lead once again with a sacrifice fly to center that was deep enough to advance the trail runners as well. Colmenarez cleared the bases and drove in a pair with a double to right. Reliever Angel Hernandez entered at that point and allowed the first three batters he faced to reach, eventually walking Bryan Broecker with the bases loaded to force in a run. The inning featured one more run on a fielder’s choice groundout from Adrian Santana that made it 7-2. The five runs represented the most runs scored in an inning by the RiverDogs this season.

Three straight batters reached for Myrtle Beach with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. One run scored on the final hit, a double to shallow right from Rosario that dropped at the feet of Paulino in right field. An RBI groundout from Alexis Hernandez in the fifth brought the Pelicans within 7-4. That was the first run allowed by reliever Chris Villaman this season after 16.2 scoreless innings.

Villaman earned the victory, allowing the lone run in 4.0 stellar innings out of the pen. Gill Hill went 4.0 innings and did not factor in the decision after allowing a season-high nine hits. He surrendered three runs and struck out four. Will Stevens walked the bases loaded in the ninth but struck out three to earn his third save of the campaign.

The RiverDogs won despite being outhit 13-6 in the contest. Paulino and Colmenarez each had two hits for the Dogs. Myrtle Beach received three hits from Rosario and a pair of knocks from three others.