The Myrtle Beach Pelicans snapped the Lynchburg Hillcats’ seven game winning streak. The streak was the longest since 2005 when the ‘Cats won eight in a row two separate times. The Pelicans offense was powered by Brett Nicholas with the highlight being his three-run homer in a four-run first inning. It was rare struggles for Gus Schlosser as he fought to complete six innings.
The anemic Pelicans offense looked amazing in the first inning at Lynchburg City Stadium this evening. It started with back-to-back hits from Odubel Herrera and Hanser Alberto. Then, Christian Villanueva hit a ball over to Edward Salcedo at third. Salcedo tried to start the double play, but a low throw got by Tommy La Stella, Herrera scored and Alberto moved to third. Just one batter later, Brett Nicholas destroyed a Gus Schlosser first pitch fastball. The three-run blast gave the Pelicans a 4-0 lead. Four runs is also the most the Myrtle Beach offense scored in an inning this season.
Lynchburg cut into the lead in the bottom of the second, starting with a walk to Adam Milligan. Salcedo followed with a single, but was retired at second when Chris Garcia grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Milligan advanced to third on the play. With two outs, David Rohm hit a sharp ground ball over to Villanueva at third, but a low throw was dropped by Cookie Castillo at first base. Milligan scored on the Castillo error to make it 4-1. However, that would be the only run allowed by Randol Rojas in his career-high seven innings.
It would be just a half inning later, in the top of the third, when the Pelicans added to their lead. Alberto continued his hot hitting with a lead-off double. Again, Nicholas came up with the big hit, when he doubled to score Alberto.
With the score 5-1 in favor of the Pelicans, both offenses went silent. Schlosser, Blaine Sims and Matt Chaffee combined to keep the score 5-1. For the Pelicans, Rojas, Kyle DeVore and Ben Henry combined to shut down the ‘Cats.
Rojas (6-0) earned the win in his fourth start of the season. He went a career-high seven innings, scattered four hits, struck out two, walked three and allowed the one unearned run. Schlosser (8-4) got the loss for his six innings of work. He allowed six hits that led to five runs; four were earned. Schlosser also sat down five and didn’t walk a batter.
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Chris Graham
