Big Innings Crush Pelicans, Wood Ducks Win 12-4

Down East scored five in the first, six in the third

By Sam Weiderhaft

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans fell for the second straight night by the final of 12-4 to the Down East Wood Ducks on Thursday. With the loss, the Pelicans stand at 69-42 on the season with a second-half record of 22-23. The Wood Ducks moved up to 57-54 and 24-21 in the second half with their second victory of the series.

It was another quiet night offensively for the Birds with Parker Chavers (2-4, HR, RBI) posting his second multi-hit game of the series and extending his hitting streak to five. Felix Stevens (1-4, HR, 2 RBI) brought home a pair of runs with a two-run homer in the opening frame.

Five different pitchers threw for Myrtle Beach with starter Sam Thoresen (0-1) taking the loss after getting just one out in the first. In his first start of the year, Thoresen allowed five runs with two earned off three hits and a walk while striking out one. Luis Rodriguez followed with 2 1/3 innings in relief with six runs, five earned allowed while giving up six hits.

Down East turned 12 hits into 12 runs with Cameron Cauley (2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB) pacing the lineup with a pair of doubles. Daniel Mateo (2-5, 2B, RBI) also hit a double with a run driven in and Abimelec Ortiz (2-3, BB) logged a multi-hit performance from the nine spot. The Wood Ducks smashed five doubles in the winning effort.

Thursday night saw a solid performance from Jose Corniell (2-5) with five innings out of the bullpen. He allowed two earned runs off two hits and a walk with six strikeouts for the game. Starter Emiliano Teodo tossed the first four frames with two earned runs allowed and another six strikeouts.

Both teams came out of the gate scoring runs in the first inning. With two outs and a runner on for the Pelicans, Stevens lifted a home run to right field to give the Birds an early 2-0 lead. It was his 11th homer of the season.

The Wood Ducks took the lead with five runs in the bottom half. Cauley hit a double with Maximo Acosta on third to bring in the first run. Yosy Galan followed with a double to plate Cauley and tie the game 2-2. After Rodriguez came in to replace Thoresen with the bases loaded, JoJo Blackmon reached base on a throwing error by catcher Ethan Hearn and moved all the way to third on another throwing error by second baseman Liam Spence. All three runs came home for a 5-2 Wood Ducks lead.

A six-run third would be the dagger as the Wood Ducks blew the game open. Miguel Villarroel lined a single to center that scored the runners on second and third with nobody out. Later in the inning, Acosta reached on a fielder’s choice to plate Villarroel as the Wood Ducks went up 8-2. Mateo followed with an RBI double to left that put runners on second and third, and Cauley finished off the inning with a two-run double to left to give Down East an 11-2 advantage.

The final run for the home team came in the bottom of the fifth when Liam Hicks lined an RBI single to right that scored Mateo and made it a 10-run game.

The Pelicans scored one in the seventh and one in the eighth. After a Moises Ballesteros double, Spence knocked him in from third on a groundout to short. Chavers led off the following inning with a solo homer to left-center for his second of the season to make it 12-4 Wood Ducks.

Down 2-1 in the series, the Pelicans will try and bounce back with game four on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. against the Wood Ducks.