What an exciting night that turned out to be! Let’s get going!
Coming into the night, Myrtle Beach had a one-game lead over Charleston. At one point, Myrtle Beach was down 6-1 to Kannapolis. All hope looked lost until the Pelicans rallied late for the second night in a row and took a 7-6 lead into the ninth inning. Charleston, meanwhile, was losing 2-0 until the bottom of the ninth when they scored three runs with two outs and won on a walk off home run. That meant that Myrtle Beach had to win to get in as Charleston held the head-to-head tiebreaker at 5-4..
Unfortunately, Kannapolis was able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie it. In the tenth, I don’t know how Ezequiel Pagan scored in the following video to give the Pelicans an 8-7 lead.
The Pelicans then shut down Kannapolis in the bottom of the 10th to win the first half championship with the best record in all of Minor League Baseball at 47-19! The division lead at the end of today was just one game and that was a really fun playoff chase. That’s unlike anything my friend John and I have ever seen! The most surprising thing about the Pelicans team, most of them aren’t even old enough to legally have alcohol, but who cares in this video! They most certainly don’t!
Congratulations to everybody with the Pelicans from North Side Bound on putting yourself in the postseason with the first half title!
After that news, it was all downhill.
Tennessee won 5 to 2 while Iowa lost 3 to 0 to Louisville. South Bend walked it off when my guy Pablo Aliendo cranked a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th to win 9-6 over Peoria. That win pushed South Bend to a first-half winning record at 34-32.
Second Best News Item of the Day
Pitcher Koen Moreno pitched one inning tonight and faced seven batters. He walked four and made two balks as he wound up pitching to one batter in the second. I am sure the Cubs had him on a very strict pitch limit, but it’s good to see him get his name in a box score in a game that mattered. He will have a lot more opportunities, but his debut finally came!
Hitter of the Day
I don’t know where to begin on this one. There were a lot of good performances today including Yonathan Perlaza from Tennessee who went 3-for-4 with a HR and 2 RBI. However, Jonathan Sierra reached base five times as he went 4-for-4 with a walk in helping lead South Bend to a victory. It is good to see him driving the ball with regularity now after he repeated high A last after missing half of 2019 with a shoulder issue.
Baserunner of the Day
This is my way of giving Ezequiel Pagán something for scoring the winning run because I still have no idea how in the hell he scored the winning run. Let’s watch it again!
Starting Pitcher of the Day
Today’s honor goes to Bob Gsellman of Iowa who threw five scoreless innings and struck out two. After he left, the bullpen couldn’t hold Louisville down.
Reliever of the Day
This award today is going to go to Eduarniel Nunez of South Bend who shut down Peoria for two innings and struck out two but also made a studly play covering first to keep Peoria from scoring in the ninth.
I don’t know how to top tonight for excitement and tension. It was fun watching South Bend on Marquee and it was fun following Myrtle Beach come back and win a title as well as seeing Tennessee just continue to rake at the plate.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at some things to look forward to for the second half which starts tomorrow for South Bend and Myrtle Beach
