Myrtle Beach Pelicans jump out to big early lead, hold on to defeat FredNats, 7-3

The Fredericksburg Nationals fell behind early to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and could not come back in a 7-3 defeat on Thursday night.

Myrtle Beach, the Low-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, took the lead right away in the bottom of the first on a Moises Ballesteros home run to left field. Then in the second inning, the Pelicans extended their lead. Rafael Morel and Pedro Ramirez opened the frame with back to back singles, then Miguel Pabon doubled back up the middle to plate Morel to make it a 2-0 edge.

Reivaj Garcia added another run with an RBI groundout, before Ballesteros struck again with a single into right, which brought Pabon across with the fourth run.

Morel made it 6-0 in the bottom of the third inning, with his two-run homer that snuck over the wall in left field.

In the top of the fifth, the Freddies, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, battled back against Marino Santy. Wilmer Perez and Yoander Rivero each singled with two outs, then Christopher De La Cruz got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cortland Lawson drew a bases loaded walk after that, and Daylen Lile reached on an E1 to get the score to 6-2.

Then in the sixth, Elijah Green led off with a single. Roismar Quintana followed with another single to move Green to third base. Then, Armando Cruz lifted a sacrifice fly into left which plated Green, and pulled the Nats closer at 6-3.

But a Felix Stevens home run in the seventh added another run for Myrtle Beach, and that was all they needed to wrap up a 7-3 win.

Koen Moreno got the win on his line, while Luke Young was saddled with the loss.

In Game 4 on Friday night, Jarlin Susana takes the ball for Fredericksburg against Nick Hull.