Frederick Keys rally, eke past Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans fell just short Thursday.

But not without a fight.

After giving up two runs and the lead in the eighth inning, the Pelicans loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth but Jeimer Candelario grounded out as the Frederick Keys took a 4-3 victory over Myrtle Beach at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.

“We battled the whole game,” Myrtle Beach manager Mark Johnson said. “We came back twice and got the lead and we played a good game; we just fell short.”

Pelicans reliever Tayler Scott gave up a leadoff double to Phildrick Llewellyn in the eighth inning, and Llewellyn later scored on a wild pitch to tie it up 3-3. Then, Trey Mancini hit an RBI single, which proved to be the game-winner as it gave Frederick a 4-3 advantage.

Scott received the loss as he gave up two runs on three hits and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings.

“We had their leadoff hitter in the eighth with two strikes and [Scott] left a pitch up and it got their momentum going,” Johnson said.

Mark Zagunis hit a two-out single in the ninth to start things off, Pin-Chieh Chen hit a ground-rule double and Chesny Young was walked to load the bases, but Frederick shut the door to take the three-game series 2-1.

Zagunis was 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to pace Myrtle Beach (24-14). The Pelicans were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners. Chesny Young continued his tear since a call-up from Class-A Tallahassee on May 12, as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Young is batting .480 through six games with Myrtle Beach.

Mancini hit a solo home run off Pelicans starter Daury Torrez in the fourth inning. Torrez received a no-decision as he allowed two runs on six hits and no walks and two strikeouts in six innings.

“Daury had a decent start; he left a couple pitches up [in the zone],” Johnson said. “Sometimes he speeds up his delivery a little bit and leaves balls up in the zone, but Mancini hit the crap out of that ball to center field. Yeah, [Torrez] made a few mistakes but gave us six innings, kept us in the ballgame and gave us a chance; that’s all you can ask for.”

With the series against Frederick over, the Pelicans set their sights on the Potomac Nationals, who they host for a four-game series starting at 6:05 p.m. Friday, and Myrtle Beach plans to start ace Duane Underwood (4-0), who has a brilliant 1.09 ERA thus far.

“He’s finally back to regular days’ rest,” Johnson said of Underwood. “I expect him to come out, establish his fastball and set the tone early. We’ll see.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Frederick Keys rally, eke past Pelicans."