Birds Win Fifth Straight, Take Opener over Augusta 8-1

The game was called after seven complete innings due to rain

June 7, 2023

By Sam Weiderhaft The Myrtle Beach Pelicans continued their hot streak with their fifth victory in a row as they won the series-opening game over the Augusta GreenJackets 8-1 on Tuesday night. With their 12th win in their last 14 games, the Pelicans improved to 30-22 and remain in a

By Sam Weiderhaft

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans continued their hot streak with their fifth victory in a row as they won the series-opening game over the Augusta GreenJackets 8-1 on Tuesday night. With their 12^th win in their last 14 games, the Pelicans improved to 30-22 and remain in a tie for first in the division with the Columbia Fireflies. Augusta dropped to 26-26 with the loss.

Myrtle Beach showed their power with home runs by Felix Stevens (1-4, HR, RBI) and Moises Ballesteros (1-4, HR, 3 RBI) while collecting 10 hits for the game. Parker Chavers (3-4, RBI) smashed three base hits while Reivaj Garcia (2-3, 2B, RBI, BB) had a solid performance with a double and a single.

It was another great outing from Grant Kipp (1-3) as he earned his first win of the year by throwing six one-run innings with six strikeouts. Kipp allowed four hits and walked two in his second straight six-inning outing.

Augusta was held quiet for a majority of the night as Francisco Floyd (1-3, HR, RBI) was the only player to drive in a run with a solo homer in the sixth. Bryson Worrell (2-2, 2B) collected half of the GreenJackets’ hits with a double and a single.

Starter Jorge Bautista (3-3) took the loss after allowing five earned runs across his 6 1/3 inning outing with the Pelicans smashing seven hits off him. Reliever Estarlin Rodriguez followed with three earned runs 2/3 innings off the Ballesteros home run.

Myrtle Beach grabbed an early lead as Stevens lifted his team-leading eighth home run to left-center field with one out in the top of the second to give the Birds a 1-0 lead.

The middle innings were quiet until the Pelicans added one more in the top of the sixth. With Chavers on third, Bautista threw a wild pitch to plate the run as Myrtle Beach went up 2-0.

On the first pitch of the bottom half, Floyd flew his second home run of the year to left field for the GreenJackets' only run of the game.

The Pelicans took control in the top of the seventh. After loading the bases, Ismael Mena grounded into a force out at second as the runner from third scored. With runners on the corners, Garcia followed with a line drive to left for an RBI single to make it 4-1 and put runners on first and second. Chavers then hit a single to left to bring in Mena from second. Ballesteros finished it off with a three-run homer to left-center for his fifth of the year as the Birds broke it open to an 8-1 lead.

After Augusta was retired in the bottom of the seventh, the game was called due to rain.

The series continues on Wednesday night with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m.