Salem finishes season on streak
Peter Hissey’s first professional grand slam and Matt Spring’s three-run blast highlighted a seven-run fourth inning that propelled the Salem Sox to a 10-3 victory over Myrtle Beach on the final day of the 2011 regular season. Stolmy Pimentel earned his sixth victory, holding Myrtle Beach to two runs on two hits in seven strong innings. Salem finished with a record of 64-75, 33-37 in the second half, and won four in a row and five of the last six to complete the slate.
Salem opened up a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on Monday night, utilizing two singles and three walks to score three times. Josue Peley drilled the first of his two hits to drive in the first run, and the Sox scored twice more on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
Two innings later, the Red Sox loaded the bases again via Peley’s double, Zach Gentile’s strikeout wild pitch, and Drew Dominguez’ hit-by-pitch. With one out, Hissey lifted a deep fly down the left-field line that snuck over the fence and inside the foul pole for a grand slam. The four-run shot was Hissey’s second homer of the season, both of which came against the Pelicans. In fact, all three of Hissey’s professional home runs have been belted against Myrtle Beach.
The slam made it 7-0, but the Sox were not done in the fourth. Heiker Meneses reached on Leury Garcia’s fielding error, Bryce Brentz singled Meneses to third, and then Matt Spring clobbered his second homer in as many days to shoot Salem to a 10-0 edge. Spring’s seventh Carolina League dinger gave the Sox a comfortable cushion for the pitcher’s to embrace.
Pimentel peppered the strike zone, surrendering back-to-back hits in the fourth inning but none others. Garcia doubled to lead off the fourth and Jared Prince smothered a two-run homer to make it 10-2, but Pimentel set down 11 of the next 13, hitting two batters who never passed first base. The Dominican righthander improved to 6-4 and lowered his Carolina League ERA to 4.53.
In relief, Manny Rivera permitted one run on two innings, striking out a pair in his perfect ninth to end the season. Myrtle Beach used seven different pitchers in their final game before the postseason, with Kasey Kiker suffering the loss, allowing three runs in a third of a frame on the mound.
Every member of Salem’s lineup reached base and scored a run, with Spring and Peley registering multi-hit evenings to complete the campaign. The two home runs gave Salem 93 round-trippers for the season, the most for any Salem Sox squad since the Red Sox returned to the Roanoke Valley in 2009.
Walkoff walk dooms ‘Cats
It took a season-long for the Hillcats 12 innings but theirgame against the Pelicans finally ended on a walk-off walk, Myrtle Beachwinning 3-2. Joey Terdoslavich went 4-for-6 in the ball game, crushing his 50th double of the season in the third inning. He is now just one double away fromtying the all-time Carolina League single season record.
Lynchburg led early scoring two runs in the second. JoeLeonard reached on an error. Shawn McGill then drew a walk. With runners atfirst and second Marcus Lemon put down a sacrifice bunt to third base. JimmySwift fielded and threw the ball away at first, Leonard scored, McGill went tothird, and Lemon advanced to second. Barrett Kleinknecht drove in McGill with asacrifice fly to left field. The Hillcats without the benefit of a hit in theframe scored a pair and led 2-0.
Despite tallying 12 hits in the other 11 innings, the ‘Catswould not score the rest of the game. Even with three hits coming in the 10thinning alone, the Hillcats stranded the bases loaded and failed to score.
Meanwhile the Pelicans’ offense consisted of one man. MikeOlt went deep twice in the ball game. He hit a solo shot in the fourth inningand another in the seventh inning. Both came off starter David Hale.
Hale went eight innings, gave up just two runs on six hits,while striking out five but took a no-decision as the game went to extras tied2-2.
The 10th and 11th innings wentscoreless, as did the Lynchburg half of the 12th.
RHP Mark Lamm came back out to pitch the bottom of the 12thfor the Hillcats, looking to complete his fourth inning of relief. He struckout the first two batters but Santiago would not let Myrtle go quietly into the13th. He doubled with two outs, and that was the beginning of theend. Lamm then intentionally walked Travis Adair a left-handed batter to get tothe right-handed Jared Prince. Prince also drew a walk of the unintentionalvariety. That loaded the bases and Lamm left the game.
LHP Matt Crim entered to face left-handed batter AndrewClark. Clark worked the count full before taking a fastball in the dirt for ballfour and the Pelicans won 3-2. Lynchburg fell in the finale but took the series2-1.
Joseph Ortiz (5-5) earned the win with three scorelessinnings of relief. Lamm (1-2) suffered the loss for Lycnhburg.
The Hilcats are now 27-32 in the second half, still fivegames back of the Potomac Nationals for a playoff spot with just 10 games left.
Lynchburg travels to Kinston next to take on the Indians ina three-game set. Game one is scheduled for 6:30 pm Friday night. RHP CalebBrewer (1-0) will start for the Hillcats against RHP Clayton Cook (8-8) forKinston.
Lynchburg wins in extras
The Hillcats never led until the final inning Tuesday night.Tied 4-4 heading into the 11th, Lynchburg doubled their total withfour more runs. Joe Leonard delivered the go-ahead blow with a two-runground-rule double. The Hillcats went on to win 8-4.
The Pelicans started the scoring in the bottom of the first.Ryan Strausborger doubled to lead off the inning. Two batters later, JaredPrince drove him home with a sacrifice fly to center field. Myrtle Beach led1-0.
Lynchburg tied the game with three straight two-out singlesin the top of the second frame. Shawn McGill eventually scored on a GeraldoRodriguez single. The tie would be short lived as the Pelicans retook the leadin the bottom of the inning. Santiago Chirino singled home Jared Hoying puttingMyrtle Beach back up by one, 2-1.
Two more runs scored for the home team. One in the fourth ona Travis Adair RBI single, and another in the fifth when Vinny DiFazio hit asacrifice fly to center field.
The ‘Cats battled back with two runs in the sixth inning.McGill started the inning with a single. After Lemon walked, Rodriguez camethrough again with his second RBI single of the night. Two batters later,Keenan Wiley brought home Lemon with his second base hit of the night. TheHillcats still trailed 4-3.
That score held until the ninth inning. Andrelton Simmonsled off the inning with a single up the middle. He advanced to second base on awild pitch out. Todd Cunninghamthen grounded out to shortstop, moving Simmons to third. Joe Leonard hit asacrifice fly to center field and the game was tied 4-4.
Lynchburg nearly gave away the game in the bottom of theninth. RHP Jeremy Haynes retired the first batter but then walked the next two.LHP Ryan Buchter then came in form the bullpen. He struck out his first batterbefore walking Andrew Clark to load the bases with two outs. Mike Olt came upnext. He worked the count two and two before hitting a line shot to the rightside. Rodriguez dove to his right at first base to make the catch and save thegame for the Hillcats.
The game headed to extras tied 4-4. It stayed that way untilthe 11th inning.
RHP Ryan Rodebaugh entered the game for the Pelicans.Barrett Kleinknecht shot his first hit of the night into center field. Wileyfollowed with a walk, while trying to put down a sacrifice bunt. An errantpick-off attempt to second base went into center field while Simmons was at theplate and both runners advanced. Simmons then popped up to first base.Cunningham was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Leonard. Leonard’sground-rule double brought home two. Christian Bethancourt singled in a pairafter that. The Hillcats went up 8-4.
Buchter (2-5) held the Pelicans scoreless in the 11thand earned his second win of the season. Rodebaugh (1-1) took the loss.
The Hillcats improved to 26-31 with the win, while thePelicans fell to 27-30 with the loss.
The two teams meet again tomorrow night at 7:05 pm. LHPChrist Masters (9-6) will start for Lynchburg against RHP Kennil Gomez (4-2)for Myrtle Beach. Listen live to all the action starting with the HillcatsOn-Deck Show powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg on 105.5 KD Country andonline at lynchburg-hillcats.com
Pelicans silence Salem
One night after matching a season-high with 17 hits, the Sox offense was stymied by the spectacular craftsmanship of Miguel De Los Santos, who spun six scoreless innings and struck out 11 to highlight Myrtle Beach’s 4-0 triumph on Tuesday night at LewisGale Field. The Pelicans took an early lead against Salem starter Drake Britton, and the Red Sox never sent a baserunner past second base in the entire ballgame against De Los Santos and a duo of relievers who combined to deal a five-hit shutout.
De Los Santos only struck out one of the first seven batters he faced, but turned it up a notch by whiffing 10 of the final 12 he saw to complete his sterling six-inning performance. Heiker Meneses led off the game with an infield single, the only hit that De Los Santos permitted through the duration of his outing. In relief, Jimmy Reyes struck out a pair in his two scoreless frames on the mound, while Zach Osborne pitched around two singles in the ninth to complete the shutout.
The Pelicans plated a pair in the top of the first against Britton, using four straight singles and a sac fly from Andrew Clark to assume to 2-0 edge in the opening moments. Myrtle Beach jumped to a 3-0 lead on Travis Adair’s RBI ground-out in the second and tacked on an insurance tally off reliever T.J. Hose in the top of the ninth.
Despite some early struggles, Britton finished his outing strong, dealing a 1-2-3 fifth and setting down eight of the final nine men he faced. Unfortunately, the lack of run support served Britton his 13th loss of the season. Chris Martin continued to amaze with three scoreless innings out of the pen, preceding Hose’s one-run ninth.
All 17 combined hits in the game were singles, with the Sox managing just five of them. Heiker Meneses and Shannon Wilkerson both extended their current hitting streaks to eight games, as Meneses went 2-4 and Wilkerson finished 1-3. Every member of the Myrtle Beach lineup chipped in with at least one hit, with Ryan Strausborger, Andrew Clark, and Santiago Chirino each contributing two hits.
In the last of the seventh, Salem manager Bruce Crabbe and designated hitter Bryce Brentz were both ejected in the aftermath of a controversial non-call in the batter’s box. It appeared that a Reyes slider hit Brentz in the foot while the hitter checked his swing, but umpire John Bacon made no signal of sending Brentz to first. Crabbe argued vehemently, motioning for Bacon to ask to the umpire on the bases for his opinion. But Bacon refused to seek help and tossed Crabbe shortly thereafter. One pitch later, Brentz chased a slider away, struck out, said something to Bacon, and immediately was run from the proceedings as well. It was the third time this season that Crabbe had been ejected.
The Red Sox and Pelicans reunite on Wednesday for the series rubber match, with Anthony Ranaudo taking the mound against Wilfredo Boscan. First pitch is slated for 7:05.
Mailman delivers walkoff for Salem
David Mailman’s walk-off two-run blast in the bottom of the tenth ignited the celebration, surging the Salem Sox to a satisfying 8-6 victory over Myrtle Beach on Monday night at LewisGale Field. With one out and a man at first, Mailman sent a towering fly off Colby Killian into the whistling wind that blew out to left, helping the soaring ball clear the wall with ease. The opposite-field shot was the sixth of the year for Mailman and the 17th hit of the night for Salem, matching a season-high for most hits in a game.
The exciting climax was preceded by a circuitous nine innings, in which the Red Sox took a 5-0 lead, coughed it up and trailed 6-5 after seven, and then evened the score again with a clutch two-out RBI double in the eighth from Heiker Meneses. Pete Ruiz sustained the tie by stranding the potential go-ahead runner at third base in the top of the ninth, and Jordan Flasher dealt a perfect tenth to earn the victory in his Carolina League debut.
The Red Sox delivered a potent two-out rally in the bottom of the third, cataloguing five runs after the first two hitters in the frame struck out. Meneses began the rally with the first of his two doubles, and Jorge Padron walked to bring up Bryce Brentz. After both runners moved into scoring position on wild pitch from Pelican starter Chad Bell, Brentz belted two-run double into the deep right-center field gap. Miles Head followed with his own RBI double that made it 3-0, and Shannon Wilkerson drilled the next pitch into right for a single that gave the Sox a 4-0 lead, scoring Head from second. The rally concluded via Alex Valdez’ drive to the base of the center-field fence, scoring Wilkerson from first to make it 5-0. Although Valdez was gunned down trying to stretch his double into a triple, the phenomenal rally gave the Sox a seemingly comfortable cushion.
Unfortunately, Ryan Pressly’s route through the top of the fifth was not as smooth as the previous four frames. He held the visitors to just one hit through four, but walked the leadoff man in the fifth and surrendered three straight one-out hits that plated three runs. Pressly recorded the second out of the inning and then left due to an unknown injury with Salem leading 5-3.
In the top of the sixth, the Pelicans plated two more against Ruiz to complete the comeback, taking advantage of three free passes in the frame. A bases-loaded walk drawn by Andrew Clark forced home Andres James to tied it at five. Ruiz did manage to induce a 6-4 fielder’s choice from Zach Zaneski to strand the bases loaded, three of the 12 that Myrtle Beach left on base in the game.
Myrtle Beach assumed its lead in the seventh, as Ryan Strausborger scurried home from third on James’ grounder to first. Miles Head fielded the slow chopper and tried to throw out the man running home, but Strausborger’s speed combined with Head’s double-clutching the throw allowed the Pelicans to surge in front 6-5. In the bottom of the eighth, however, Mailman drew a one-out walk and crossed the plate two batters later on Meneses’ double, setting the table for the dramatic finish in the tenth.
Brentz, Head, and Wilkerson all registered three-hit games for the Red Sox, while Meneses, Mailman, and Valdez contributed two hits apiece for the Sox offense that has compiled double-digit hits in six of the last seven games.
The Sox will try and build on their back-to-back wins in the middle matchup of the current three-game set with Myrtle Beach, scheduled for Tuesday night at 7:05. Drake Britton will get the start for Salem opposite Miguel De Los Santos for Myrtle.
Two-out hits doom P-Nats
A flurry of two-out runs propelled the Myrtle Beach Pelicans to a 5-2 win over the Potomac Nationals in Woodbridge on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Pelicans earned a split in four-game series with bookend wins. Andrew Clark’s two-run homer in his Pelicans debut proved to be the game winner, and was one of seven two-out hits for Myrtle Beach in front of 1,608 at Pfitzner Stadium.
Cameron Selik (4-9) retired the first eleven Myrtle Beach hitters he faced, but ran into a wall with two outs in the fourth inning. His trouble started with a walk of Travis Adair, and the Pelicans followed with four consecutive extra-base hits, including Clark’s homer, and surged ahead 4-0.
Potomac had taken a lead in the third inning. Francisco Soriano led off with a walk, stole second and scored on consecutive groundouts by Jeff Kobernus and Destin Hood. Hood has now driven in 75 runs, the second most in the Carolina League.
Mitchell Clegg relieved Selik with two outs in the fourth, and retired the first six hitters he faced. He, too, ran into two-out trouble. In the sixth inning, the Pelicans strung together three straight singles, the last of which came off the bat of Jared Hoying and pushed Myrtle ahead 5-1.
Jose Lozada’s leadoff homer in the seventh inning got the Nationals their final run and pulled them within three.
But the Nationals went down with a whimper in the eighth and ninth innings against Myrtle Beach relievers Ryan Kelly and Ryan Odebaugh. Eury Perez was the Nats’ only baserunner in the final two frames; after a two-out single he was picked off first base to end the game.
The Nationals (55-63) and the Pelicans (64-54) split their 20-game season series.
Potomac makes its final trip to Grainger Stadium Monday night. The Nationals send Adam Olbrychowski to the mound in the opener of a three-game series at 7:00 P.M.
P-Nats edge Pelicans
Paul Demny threw eight strong innings against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and led the Potomac Nationals to a 3-2 victory.
In his previous six starts, Demny failed to last through six innings and averaged over four runs per start during that stretch. Saturday night, however, he delivered perhaps his best start of the season.
Demny faced his first obsticle when Myrtle Beach knocked consecutive one-out singles in the third inning. Demny settled in, though, and induced the next batter into a double play, which ended the inning and the threat.
The Nationals offense came to the aid of their starting pitcher early as well, thanks to a leadoff double by Archie Gilbert. After he was moved over on a fly out to right field, Destin Hood knocked him home on a sacrifice fly. Hood increased his RBI total to 74 and inched closer to the Carolina League leader, Winston-Salem’s Ian Gac who has 82.
That run remained the game’s only tally until the sixth inning. With one out in the frame, Steven Souza was hit by a pitch by Kennil Gomez with one out. The very next batter, Sandy Leon, cracked a double into the right-center gap which scored Souza all the way from first.
The next inning, the Nationals bats remained hot when Cutter Dykstra led the inning of with a double down the left field line. Archie Gilbert followed him with a seeing-eye single through the gap between shortstop and third, but Dykstra was only able to advance to third on the play.
The next play proved to be the play of the game as Jose Lozada chopped a grounder to third and Dykstra shuffled towards home on contact. The third baseman whipped the ball to home but Dykstra slid brilliantly and avoided the tag from the catcher, which gave him the run and gave the P-Nats the 3-0 lead late in the game.
The Pelicans did not go quietly, though, when in the eighth inning the led off with consecutive extra base hits, which plated one run and left another runner on third with no outs. The runner came home shortly after on a ground ball to second where Potomac traded an out for a run, which cleared the bases. Demny finished the inning without another blemish.
He ended his day with eight innings pitched, five hits, two runs and struck out four batters.
Marcos Frias relieved him in the ninth and with the exception of a leadoff single, he shut the door on the Pelicans and ended the game by the 3-2 score.
Demny (8-10) was awarded the win for his brilliant performance while Gomez (2-3) was given the loss for Myrtle Beach.
The Nationals and Pelicans wrap up their four-game weekend series tomorrow afternoon. Potomac will send Cameron Selik (4-8) to the hill while Myrtle Beach sends Justin Grimm (3-2).
