Home magic runs dry for Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans and designated hitter Travis Adair finally ran out of magic on Friday night at BB&T Coastal Field.

The Pelicans saw their three-game winning streak snapped in a 3-2 loss to the Winston-Salem Dash, and Adair had his string of hits in 10 consecutive at-bats come to an end.

Adair entered the game with nine straight hits and scored the game-winning run in Thursday's comeback victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats. He ran the number to 10 with a first-pitch single in the second inning. Then he struck out in the fourth, falling two hits shy of tying the 58-year-old Carolina League record of 12.

"I didn't even know about the record. What is it anyway?" asked Adair, whose grandparents were in attendance on Friday. "I've just been seeing the ball real well lately. Hopefully I can start another one tomorrow."

Adair doesn't put much stake in history, as the Woodruff native has learned since being drafted - and later released - by his favorite childhood team, the Atlanta Braves.

As a 13th-round pick in the 2008 draft, Adair had a solid rookie season before the wheels came off in Danville in 2009. Adair had dreamed of moving up to play in his home state in Myrtle Beach in 2010, but after batting just .206 the Braves cut him. As fate would have it, he was signed as a free agent by the Texas Rangers and sent to their new Advanced-A affiliate in Myrtle Beach.

Adair started the 2011 season by hitting .365 over the first 16 games with the Pelicans, earning a promotion to Double-A Frisco. He was sent back to Myrtle Beach after struggling at the next level, but is once again burning up the Carolina League. His .344 batting average would be a full 30 percentage points ahead of the league's best if he met the minimum number of at-bats.

His numbers are even more impressive against the Braves' new Carolina League affiliate, the Lynchburg Hillcats, whom he went 9-for-9 against in the previous three games.

"I'm not going to lie. Doing it against them definitely made it more special," Adair said. "I was excited about coming to Myrtle Beach with it being in my home state and all, but I finally got here and I'm trying to make the most of it."

Adair's single in the second went for naught as the Pelicans produced just five hits during the night.

The power outage spoiled a solid start by ace Robbie Ross, who allowed only five hits over seven innings and struck out seven with no walks. Three of those hits came in the costly third inning. Kyle Colligan and Tyler Saledino singled to set the stage for Brady Shoemaker, who drove them in with a sharply hit single to center field for a 2-0 lead.

The Pelicans cut the deficit in half in the fourth, when Jared Bolden led off the inning with a triple and Jared Prince sacrificed him home. Bolden added an RBI double in the sixth to score Andres James and tie the score at 2.

After Ross allowed no walks through seven frames, he was relieved by Ryan Kelly at the start of the eighth inning. Kelly (3-5) immediately gave up Myrtle Beach's first walk of the night to Saledino, who scored the game-winning run on a double by Jared Mitchell.

The Pelicans, who had won five games in walkoff fashion in their previous nine home outings, were unable to mount a rally this time.

They get a second shot at the Dash at 7 tonight.

LOB--Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 4. 2B-Mitchell (27, Kelly); James (7, Rienzo), Bolden (19, Rienzo). 3B-Bolden (5, Furnish). CS-Mitchell (6, 3rd base by Kelly/DiFazio). PB-DiFazio (3).

HBP--Prince (by Rienzo), Ciolli (by Ross). Umpires--HP: Matt Jones. 1B: Rich Gonzalez. T--2:11. A--2,861.