Potomac Nationals Fall to Offensive Onslaught of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in 11-5 Loss
Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 01:46PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Myrtle Beach, S.C. – The Pelicans (20-13) exploded for a season-high eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to taking the series finale 11-5 over the Potomac Nationals (20-11). With a 10-2 advantage after five innings, the Pelicans were able to cruise to their twentieth victory of the season. The first place Pelicans have now won their last seven series.
The Pelicans awoke early to entertain school-aged children for the second School Kids Day of the season.
The Pelicans cracked the BB&T Coastal Field scoreboard first in the bottom of the second. Concepcion Rodriguez hit a one out broken-bat double down the left field line. Following a groundout by Phillip Britton, Chad Lundahl drilled a home run into “Land Shark Landing” to give the Pelicans a 2-0 cushion. Prior to the blast, Lundahl had just three home runs in his previous 149 professional games played.
The Potomac Nationals relished the role of playing from behind in the third. Leadoff man Brian Peacock got aboard via a single. After Jemel Spearman struck out, Pelicans starter Kyle Cofield issued back-to-back walks to Michael Martinez and Chris Marrero. With the bases now loaded and two outs, Edgardo Baez delivered a lined single up the middle that scored Peacock and Martinez to knot the game at 2-2.
In the fifth, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans could do no wrong. Travis Jones started the inning by drawing a walk. Then, the Pelicans strung together four consecutive hits. On the back end of the string, Tyler Flowers hit a two run double to right center and Brandon Powell followed with a flare to left to lift the Pelicans to a 5-2 lead. After Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, Phillip Britton and Chad Lundahl registered back-to-back RBI singles. The ninth hitter in the frame, Yohan Silva, followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Pelicans up 8-2. To cap off the inning, Travis Jones laced a double down the right field to score two more runs to stretch the lead to 10-2. In total, the Pelicans sent 12 batters to the plate and produced eight runs on seven hits.
From that point on, the Pelicans were able to coast to an easy victory. Kelvin Villa pitched very admirably in three innings, surrendering just three hits a single run. Brett Butts came on in the seventh and finished the job. Villa picked up his first win of the season, while Butts earned his fourth save of the year. P-Nats starter Jhonny Nunez was saddled with his fourth defeat of the year.
On the day, the Pelicans posted 15 total hits, which is their second highest output of the season. Eight of the nine starters recorded at least one hit. Willie Cabrera and Chad Lundahl led the charge with three hits apiece. Lundahl was particularly impressive, going 3-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
The Pelicans enjoy an off day on Thursday before beginning a seven game road trip in which they battle the Wilmington Blue Rocks and the Potomac Nationals. The Pelicans return to the Grand Strand on May 16th to begin a three-game series against the Blue Rocks.
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