‘Hogs fly over Pelicans 10-7
Chad Gabriel led the Grand Prairie AirHogs over the Pensacola Pelicans with a four-RBI effort in a 10-7 win Saturday night at QuikTrip Park.
Gabriel went two-for-three on the night driving in four of the AirHogs runs. The first of Gabriel’s two hits came in the bottom of the third when he floated a single over the second baseman’s head into right scoring two. Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Gabriel hit a hard grounder between the shortstop and third baseman which would also bring in two.
Grand Prairie came out hot in the bottom of the first scoring two off a double and a single.
Pensacola wouldn’t score their first run until the top of the fourth off a wild pitch from AirHog’s starter Jarod Plummer. That run opened the flood gates in the next few innings for the Pelicans, as they scored three more in the next two innings, two coming from a homer by catcher Lou Palmisano well over the left field wall.
After another two from Gabriel in the bottom of the fifth, designated hitter Ben Petralli knocked a seeing-eye single up the middle scoring another to make it 8-4.
Plummer got the hook after five, allowing four runs on five hits with five strikeouts. With a new arm on the mound, Palmisano came up big again for the Pelicans driving in a run on a single up the middle in the top of the sixth.
Pensacola would bring the game to the closest difference in the top off the seventh as Javier Brito doubled off the right center wall.
The runs kept coming for the AirHogs in the seventh and eighth, scoring two more widening the gap to 10-6.
The Pelicans would score one more in the ninth but would not be able to rally, dropping the second game of the opening series.
The AirHogs look for the sweep Sunday in game three of the series at QuikTrip Park, starting at 2:05 p.m. Gates open at 1 p.m. for a KLTY Family Sunday featuring $1 hotdogs and sodas, pre-game catch-on-the-field, and post-game kids-run-the-bases.
