The Myrtle Beach Pelicans soured opening night for the Charleston RiverDogs, racking up 13 runs on 16 hits for a 13-2 rout on Friday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
The night started on a high note for the RiverDogs and their 5,813 home fans, as starting pitcher and Rays’ No. 11 prospect Trevor Harrison struck out the side swinging in the top of the first inning.
The Pelicans opened the scoring in the top of the second inning on an RBI single by Leonel Espinoza after Harrison issued three walks. The lead swelled to 4-0 in the third inning, as Myrtle Beach tallied three runs on three hits and an error to chase Harrison.
Charleston responded in the bottom of the third, as Woo Shin reached on an infield single, stole second base and scored on a blooper off the bat of Narciso Polanco, which glanced off left fielder Jose Escobar’s glove.
The bullpen settled things down for Charleston in the middle innings. Andy Rodriguez delivered 1.2 scoreless frames and then gave way for Cade Citelli, who kept the Pelicans off the scoreboard in the fifth and sixth innings in his first professional outing.
Myrtle Beach began to break the game open in the top of the seventh. The Pelicans tallied four runs, highlighted by a 2-RBI double by Michael Carico, to swell the lead to 8-1. The Pelicans added two more runs in the eighth inning to make it 10-1.
After stranding the bases loaded in the seventh inning, the RiverDogs loaded them again in the bottom of the eighth and pushed across a run, courtesy of a two-out error by Pelicans’ second baseman Angel Cepeda.
The Pelicans offense put the cherry on top of its big night in the ninth inning. Matt Halbach belted a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning, and Jose Escobar followed with a two-run shot with two outs.
Charleston struggled to capitalize on offensive opportunities throughout the contest, going 0-12 with runners in scoring position and stranding 13 men on base.
The three-game series with Myrtle Beach continues tomorrow night at Riley Park, with first pitch set for 6:05. Tickets are available on RiverDogs.com.