Indians hang on

Published in Sports on August 4, 2005 2:07 PM

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KINSTON -- A night after blowing their first lead after seven innings all year the Kinston Indians rebounded and hung on in the ninth for a 4-3 win over Myrtle Beach before 1,632 fans on Delmont Miller Night at historic Grainger Stadium on Wednesday.

Kinston took two of three from the Pelicans in the series and improved to 16-23 in the second half and 57-52 overall, while Myrtle Beach fell to 17-19 and 50-56.

Nick Pesco got the start for the K-Tribe looking for his first win since May 27, and the Indians helped his cause immediately as Rodney Choy Foo crushed a solo home run to right-center in the bottom of the first and Ryan Goleski added a solo bomb over the batter's eye in dead center field in the second to make it 2-0.

Myrtle Beach cut the lead in half on Matt Esquivel's sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, but Kinston took the momentum back in the bottom of the inning. Goleski started the rally with a two-out double to left, and David Wallace then walked to extend the inning. The brought Micah Schilling to the plate, and he drilled a bases-clearing double to right-center to give the K-Tribe a 4-1 lead.

It would stay a three-run cushion when the Indians were turned away empty-handed in the sixth after getting runners to second and third with no one out, and that failure loomed large when Jarrod Saltalamacchia lined a two-run homer off the left field foul pole with no one out in the top of the ninth to pull the Pelicans within a run at 4-3.

Shea Douglas struck out Matt Esquivel for the first out though, and Todd Pennington then closed it out by recording the final two outs as Kinston improved to 20-10 in one-run games. Pesco (7-9) finally earned his elusive seventh win, going seven innings for the third time this year and allowing just a run on four hits. He struck out five and did not walk anyone. Douglas struck out four in 1.1 innings and Pennington's save was his third. Ricardo Rodriguez (3-6) started for Myrtle Beach and gave up all four runs and seven hits in six innings. Choy Foo finished 2-for-3 with his third home run and went 6-for-13 in the series, while Goleski went 2-for-3 with his 12th homer and Schilling finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI.

The Indians remain home today with the opener of a three-game series against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Sean Smith (4-5, 3.53 ERA) will start for Kinston and Wardell Starling (8-7, 5.08 ERA) will go for Lynchburg.