Myrtle Beach Pelicans open up season with rout of Wilmington Blue Rocks

In front of a sellout crowd of 6,599 fans on opening night Thursday, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans wanted to show off their talent.

And they’re surely loaded with it.

Myrtle Beach’s offense pounded out 15 hits, and its pitching was solid as the Pelicans defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks 9-1 at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark on Thursday in their first game as an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

“It’s just a good start,” first-year Myrtle Beach manager Mark Johnson said. “You just don’t know; you play each day for what it is and you get after it.”

Check out Thursday night's box score.

Shawon Dunston Jr. – the son of former Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston – had a two-out RBI triple in the second inning for the Pelicans’ first run of the season, which Johnson said was key to setting the pace.

But a big fifth inning was all Myrtle Beach needed to put away Wilmington after starter Duane Underwood set the pace on the mound.

Carlos Penalver, Billy McKinney and Rogers each hit RBI singles, and Victor Caratini hit a two-run single as the Pelicans took a 7-1 lead.

“Dunston sparked us with a big two-out hit to kind of get it going and everyone else followed suit and kept swinging the bats well,” Johnson said.

Underwood – the 10th-ranked prospect in the Chicago Cubs organization by Baseball America – had a solid outing as he struck out five and allowed one run (unearned) on four hits and two walks in five innings for the victory.

“He was aggressive, he kept the ball down and his secondary pitches were pretty sharp for the most part,” Johnson said of Underwood. “He lost a couple of breaking balls arm side but he threw his changeups to right-handed hitters even though they had a right-handed heavy lineup. The only run he gave up was a two-strike hanging breaking ball and it was really just a poor pitch selection.”

Jacob Rogers was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as he finished 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Outfielder Jacob Hanneman and shortstop Carlos Penalver had three hits each and they also each had one RBI and one run scored, and infielder Daniel Lockhart was 2-for-4 with two runs scored to round out the Pelicans’ offense, which had four extra-base hits on the night.

“The offense looked good tonight,” Johnson said.

Myrtle Beach will host Wilmington on Friday at 7:05 p.m. in the game two of a four-game series with the Blue Rocks. The Pelicans are expected to send righty Daury Torrez to the mound for the start.

“[I expect] the same thing,” Johnson said. “… Come out here, get our work in, get prepared for the game and take it one pitch at a time.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach Pelicans open up season with rout of Wilmington Blue Rocks."