Wood Ducks Quiet in Second Half Opener

MYRTLE BEACH, SC - An entertaining pitchers' duel swayed in favor of the Pelicans in a 2-1 final to open the second half. Emerson Martinez twirled six innings with five strikeouts and two earned runs allowed but took the loss while lowering his ERA.

Matt Lipka added two hits for the Wood Ducks and scored the only run for Down East (24-46, 0-1). His offense wasn't enough as the Woodies only managed one more hit beyond his single and double.
For Myrtle Beach (44-27, 1-0), Thomas Hatch completed at least seven innings for the second consecutive start while collecting six strikeouts.
In the third, the Myrtle Beach had runners on the corners with nobody out and the top of the order due up. Martinez managed a popout and a strikeout for the first two outs.
A wild pitch moved the situation to runners on second and third, and Bryant Flete knocked a single into left field. Andruw Monasterio was thrown out at home by Franklin Rollin to end the inning after one run had already scored.
Myrtle Beach added one more in the fifth thanks to a Robert Garcia triple to right field. Grant Zawadzki would work the final two innings for the Woodies and leave three runners stranded with two strikeouts.
Lipka led off the sixth with a double and advanced to third on a Rollin groundout. Later with two outs, Yanio Perez skied a ball to right center that. Garcia dropped out of the heel of his mitt. Lipka scored on the error - thus an unearned run.
The double would be the last hit of the game for Down East, while striking out seven times over the last three innings.
Game two of the series and the half starts at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night with southpaws repeating a matchup from last week at Grainger Stadium. Wes Benjamin (4-6, 5.21) and Ryan Kellogg (3-3, 3.86) will duel for the Woodies and Pelicans respectively.
You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.