Bellevue's Ryne Reynoso has improved his chances of moving up in professional baseball by becoming the top pitcher this summer for the top team in the Class A Advanced Carolina League—the Myrtle Beach Pelicans from South Carolina.
Reynoso, 23, a 6-2, 215-pound righthander signed two years ago as a free agent by the Atlanta Braves, beat the host Kinston (N.C.) Indians 4-0 Monday night to improve his season record to 10-6 and season earned run average to 3.24.
The former Wood River High School pitching ace allowed four hits and no runs in five innings of work and won his third game in 11 days. During that winning span Reynoso has allowed only two earned runs in 16 innings, none in his last 11 frames on the mound.
Carolina Southern League first-half winner Myrtle Beach has the best record at 68-37 in the eight-team league (32-18 home, 36-19 away). The Pelicans (23-12 second half) needed Reynoso's pitching gem Monday to stretch their second-half lead to three-and-a-half games over second-place Kinston.
Reynoso, a Carolina League mid-season All-Star and June 2 "Pitcher of the Week," is 4-0 in July. For the season in 21 games as a starter, he has allowed 99 hits and 13 homers in 99 innings, with 87 strikeouts and 29 walks. He leads the Pelicans in wins, games started, innings, whiffs and homers.
It's important that Boston College product Reynoso has picked up the pace recently because two of the Pelicans 6-5 righthanded starters, 21-year-old Kyle Cofield and Chris Vihnes, 23, were placed on the seven-day disabled list Saturday with shoulder problems.
The Pelicans have 33 games left in the 2008 season that ends Sept. 1 with a home game against Kinston, the 2006 Carolina League champions and a Cleveland Indians affiliate.
Zachary solid in Rox set up
The Bellevue pitcher who preceded Reynoso as Wood River High School's pitching ace was 2008 WRHS graduate Matt Zachary. The "Moose", now 26, continues to throw effectively for the Brockton (Mass.) Rox (31-30) of the CanAm independent league.
Zachary's stats as a set-up reliever for the Rox are 1-0, 2.51 ERA in 23 games and 32 innings, 28 hits, 9 earned runs, 15 walks and 28 strikeouts. He was featured in a June 30 newspaper article on the sports page of the Brockton Enterprise.
