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Celebration: Pensacola Pelicans Win South Division with 7-6 Triumph
September 8, 2009
After six lead changes, the Pensacola Pelicans topped the Fort Worth Cats 7-6 Saturday night to clinch the South Division of the American Association of Independent Baseball. For the first time since 2002, the Pelicans will compete for the championship. The Pelicans matched every attack that the Cats threw their way, with Hunter Davis earning his twenty-third save in the ninth inning.
Against Pelicans’ starter Aaron Jackson, Fort Worth took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Cameron Blair hit a solo home run. Pensacola earned the run right back in the bottom frame, however, when Kevin Reynolds doubled and scored on a Marshall McDougall base hit.
Pensacola took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Marcos Rodriguez grazed the plate. After a leadoff single by Rodriguez, Dallas Christison dropped a sacrifice bunt down, and Lou Palmisano knocked Rodriguez in with a single. The score would hold until the fifth inning, when both teams picked up three runs aided by errors.
Isa Garcia walked with one out in the top of the fifth inning. After a groundout to the second baseman, Brian Fryer hit a routine groundball to the shortstop. The throw to first went wide however, and Fryer reached on the error by the shortstop. Cameron Blair took advantage of the situation by driving in Garcia with a base knock. After Ron Hill replaced Aaron Jackson as the Pelicans’ pitcher, Pat O’Sullivan recorded his first hit of the playoffs, a single that scored both Fryer and Blair; 4-2 Cats.
Francisco Leandro walked to start the Pelicans’ fifth inning. After stealing second base, Leandro moved to third on a single by Antoin Gray. Chase Burch connected for a hit to drive in Leandro and cut the Cats’ lead to one. After Gary Lee replaced Cats’ starter Lee Gwaltney, Rodriguez walked. Dallas Christison batted next and popped the ball up halfway down the first base line. The Cats’ catcher was under the ball standing about a foot into fair territory when the ball caromed of his chest protector and fell into foul ground. The fair ball allowed Christison to reach on the error, and Gray and Burch scored to put the Pelicans ahead 5-4.
Fort Worth’s O’Sullivan reached on a fielder’s choice in the top of the seventh and scored when John Allen hit a homer to left. Heading into the seventh-inning stretch the Cats led 6-5.
Pensacola retrieved the runs in the bottom of the inning when new pitcher Scott Vander Weg walked Burch and Rodriguez. Christison plated Burch with a base hit to tie the game, and the Cats brought in Ryan Trytten to pitch. Lou Palmisano collected his second hit of the night and drove in Rodriguez in the process, giving the Pelicans a 7-6 advantage. The score would hold as Francisco Butto shut down the Cats in the eighth and Hunter Davis kept them off the board in the ninth.
Jackson pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks, notching a strikeout. Ron Hill pitched for six outs, yielding two runs (earned) on five hits and a walk, picking up two strikeouts. Francisco Butto earned the win for his scoreless inning and a third, blanking the Cats and striking out one. Hunter Davis earned the save, allowing a one-out hit, but then inducing a game-winning double play.
Gray, McDougall, Burch, and Palmisano all had two hits, with Burch slamming a double and Palmisano driving in two runs. Every Pelican had at least one hit except for Leandro, who walked, stole a base, and scored.
With the win, Pensacola won the best-of-five South Division Championship Series 3-1. The Pelicans will play in the Championship Series for the first time since 2002. First-year field manager Talmadge Nunnari was on the roster of that 2002 Pelicans team as a ballplayer. The Wichita Wingnuts and Lincoln Saltdogs will play the deciding game five on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. to determine the North Division winner. Pensacola will face that team starting Tuesday in a best-of-five championship series. Fans can hear all the action on NewsRadio 1620, or online via SportsJuice.com. Game three (and four and five, if necessary) will be played in Pensacola. Tickets are available online at www.pensacolapelicans.com, via phone at (850) 934-8444, or in person at the Pelicans Box Office, located on the campus of the University of West Florida.
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