Pelicans Routed by Wood Ducks 14-2

Down East scored in every inning but the fourth

By Sam Weiderhaft

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped their third straight game to the Down East Wood Ducks on Friday night 14-2. The defeat dropped the Pelicans to 69-43, and 22-24 in the second half. Down East moved up to 58-54 with a 25-21 second-half record with their third win of the series. The Wood Ducks now lead the series 3-1 heading into Saturday.

Myrtle Beach collected just two hits with Juan Mora (1-3, 2B, BB) and Josue Huma (1-3, BB) scoring both runs and knocking both hits. The Pelicans walked five times while leaving seven runners on base and going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Friday’s loss went to Koen Moreno (0-1) with seven earned runs through his 2 1/3 inning outing. Moreno gave up six hits, including a home run, and walked three while adding five strikeouts. Chase Watkins threw a majority of the game in relief with three runs, one earned allowed across a 4 2/3 inning outing.

The Wood Ducks turned 15 hits into 14 runs with their second double-digit run performance in a row. Abimelec Ortiz (4-5, HR, 3B, 3 RBI) came a double shy of the cycle while leading the team with three runs batted in. Ian Moller (1-3, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB) also brought home three runs in the win. Daniel Mateo (4-5) collected four singles from the two spot in the lineup. Down East went 7-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

With plenty of support, Gavin Collyer (5-3) took home the win in his start. Collyer threw 5 2/3 innings with both earned runs coming across and seven strikeouts. The bullpen of Kai Wynyard and Nick Lockhart kept the Birds scoreless through the final 3 1/3 frames.

Moreno struggled from the start with three runs coming across in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Moller hit a double to left field that cleared the bases and gave the Wood Ducks an early 3-0 advantage.

Ortiz led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to right-center to make it a 4-0 game. It was his ninth of the season and second of the series.

Another three runs were scored in the bottom of the third. JoJo Blackmon and Miguel Villarroel both hit RBI singles with Ortiz adding an RBI triple to push the Down East lead to 7-0 after three frames.

After a silent fourth inning, the Wood Ducks kept it going in the fifth as Blackmon tripled to lead off and scored on a Villarroel RBI groundout.

Both Myrtle Beach runs came across in the top of the sixth. With the bases loaded, James Triantos walked and Alejandro Rivero was hit by a pitch to make it an 8-2 Wood Ducks lead.

Marcus Smith added an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning, and Villarroel scored on a balk by Watkins in the bottom of the seventh for a 10-2 lead.

Andricson Salvador replaced Watkins in the bottom of the eighth and allowed four runs to come across as the Wood Ducks put the finishing touches on. Smith hit another RBI single with runners on the corners and two outs. Another two runs scored on a throwing error by Birds’ shortstop Scott McKeon on a ball hit by Villarroel. Ortiz added an RBI single for his fourth hit of the game with Down East leading 14-2 after the frame.

Myrtle Beach will try and score their second win of the series on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m.