Loss leaves Mudcats harder road to catch Myrtle Beach

FIVE COUNTY STADIUM/ZEBULON It’s opportunity time for the Carolina Mudcats, as they continue their series with the first-place Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

Carolina, which is in third place in the Carolina League’s Southern Division and 6 1/2 games behind Myrtle Beach, won the opener of their four-game series on Friday night and have seven more games left against the Pelicans with 25 games left in the first half.

Tonight, Carolina ace Shawn Morimando (5-2, 3.83) will take on the Pelicans’ Sam Wolff (4-3, 3.06). Carolina hitting coach Tony Mansolino is managing in place of Scooter Tucker, who has taken a short personal leave.

And on this night the Pelicans get the best of it, scoring four runs in the seventh inning in a 6-2 win.

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Myrtle Beach takes a 1-0 lead in the first as Nick WIlliams hits a one-out single and scores on Chris Bostick’s sacrifice fly to center.

But the Mudcats even it up in the bottom as Xhoxian Medina leads off with a single and scores on Alex Monsalve’s two-out single.

Carolina takes the lead in the fourth as Monsalve leads off with a single and scores on James Roberts’ two-out single.

But Myrtle Beach ties it in the fifth, as Hanser Alberto draws a one-out walk and scores on Williams’ two-out single.

And the Pelicans put it away off reliever Rob Nixon in the seventh. Highlights of the four-run inning are RBI singles from Williams and Preston Beck.

Alex Claudio gets the win for Myrtle Beach in relief, striking out seven against two walks and four hits in five shutout innings.

They said it …
Mansolino: “Up until last week we had swung the bats real well. Now the guys are starting to recover a little bit. Shawn had had a couple of bad games, but he’s made a couple of adjustments and starting to come around. For the most part the guys are taking pride in their work and there’s a ton of energy.”

Morimando: “I felt good. Just tried to keep my team in the game. They had some good hitters and I tried to be aggressive and keep us in the ball game. It’s my second year here, and I’m trying to slow the pace down and do my thing here.”

Jerrud Sabourin: “I’ve been working on a couple of things in b.p. and it’s starting to pay off. I felt pretty good out there tonight. Baseball is always a tough grind. You just have to stick with what you’re doing, have confidence in your team and do the little things right.”

What does it all mean?
That the Mudcats’ hole just got a little deeper.

Stars of the game
1. Williams.
2. Claudio.
3. Morimando.

Play of the game
Medina’s two-run error in the seventh.

Streaks
Mudcats: Lost 1.
Myrtle Beach: Won 1.

Season series
Tied 1-1.

On deck
Mudcats (D.J. Brown 2-4, 3.92) vs. Myrtle Beach (Chi Chi Gonzalez 5-2, 2.28), 6 p.m.