Potomac (48-53-Overall, 23-27-Road, 15-16-Second Half) down 4-0 in the ninth, plated three runs against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (59-43-Overall, 28-23-Home, 18-15-Seoncd Half) but ultimately left the tying run on third base and fell in the series opener 4-3 on the Grand Strand at TicketReturn.com Field on Tuesday Night.
RHP Austen Williams (1-3, 3.48) made his fourth start of the season for Potomac and second against the Pelicans. Williams gave up one unearned run in 5.0 innings in his previous start against Myrtle Beach but took the loss. He fared far worse this time around.
RHP Jonathan Martinez (7-2, 3.10) toed the rubber for Myrtle and it marked the third time he faced Potomac this season. Martinez was 1-0 with an ERA of 0.75, allowing one earned run on nine hits.
Myrtle Beach took a 1-0 lead on 3B Jason Vosler’s second home run for the Pelicans in the bottom of the second against Williams. It was a solo shot and Voseler’s second home run in as many games.
Two innings later, after Williams did a nice job in the bottom of the third of stranding the bases loaded after giving up a ground rule double and then back-to-back walks, DH Kevin Brown led-off with an infield single followed by a walk by Vosler. Williams retired the next two batters but the number nine hitter CF Trey Martin hit an RBI single that brought home Brown for a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth Vosler struck again. After the first two hitters were retired by Williams, Brown singled and Vosler connected for his second home run of the game, a two-run homer that gave Myrtle Beach a 4-0 advantage. Vosler, with his first multi-homer game in the Carolina League and in only five games, he has homered three times.
Martinez pitched eight scoreless frames giving up three hits, two of which were in the infield, and he picked up four strikeouts while not issuing a walk on 86 pitches with 74 of them thrown for strikes in his seventh win.
RHP Derek Self came in for relief of Williams in the sixth and fired two scoreless, perfect innings followed by LHP Justin Thomas throwing a perfect eight inning. Both Self and Thomas picked up one strikeout. For Thomas, the lefty has now thrown 11.2 innings against Myrtle Beach, allowing two hits and one run spanning four appearances.
Williams finished his outing pitching 5.0 innings and giving up four runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts in the loss.
In the ninth, still leading 4-0 the Pelicans went to the bullpen bringing in RHP Fernando Cruz. Cruz was not sharp, giving up an infield single and two walks while recording two outs as well. RHP David Berg entered looking for his second save of the season. 2B Khayyan Norfork lined a two-run single into left field cutting the lead in half at 4-2 Pelicans, scoring1B Grant DeBruin and 3B Drew Ward. C Craig Manuel was the next man up and he hit an infield single that brought home SS Stephen Perez, who walked earlier in the frame to make it 4-3 Pelicans. LF Estarlin Martinez came to the plate and after falling behind 0-2, worked the count back to 2-2 before striking out swinging on a curve ball to end the game.
Cruz’s final line was .2 of an inning and three runs allowed on one hit and two walks. Berg was able to earn his second save of the season, pitching .1 of an inning on two hits with a strikeout.
Myrtle Beach improved to 10-3 against Potomac and snapped their three-game winning streak.
Game Two features LHP Matthew Spann (0-5, 5.00), in his first start back with Potomac against RHP Daury Torrez (7-6, 3.98).
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