In the biggest game of the season for the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Pelicans, Bellevue's Ryne Reynoso stepped up and took command with his longest and best pitching performance of the entire 2008 campaign.
Reynoso, 23, the 6-2, 215-pound righthander who became the staff ace this summer, pitched the Class A Advanced Pelicans into the Mills Cup Championship Series with a clutch effort Saturday night.
The 2003 Wood River High School grad and former Idaho All-State prep baseball player scattered seven hits in seven innings as the Pelicans defeated the host Winston-Salem (N.C.) Warthogs 11-5 to win the best-of-five Southern Divisional Series three games to one.
Myrtle Beach, seeking its first Carolina League title since 2000, advanced to entertain the Potomac Nationals (82-61) Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 8-9 in the first two games of the best-of-five Mills Cup Championship Series. The series shifts to Woodbridge, Va. for Games 3 through 5 later this week.
This summer, Myrtle Beach (89-51, 46-23 home, 43-28 away) claimed the first- and second-half Southern Division titles and posted a franchise record for victories with 89. The Atlanta Braves are the parent club of the Pelicans, who also posted the most wins for any affiliated minor league team this summer season.
Although sickness limited his innings in August, Reynoso (10-6, 3.36 ERA in 27 games) led the Pelicans staff in innings pitched (131). He whiffed 105 batters and walked only 37, but had a tendency to give up home runs (16, a team high).
Reynoso, in his first full season as a professional starting pitcher, didn't yield a homer while whiffing three and walking two in Saturday's playoff clinching victory. Reynoso trailed 3-2 after six frames, but the Pelicans exploded for six runs in the seventh to send former Boston College outfielder Reynoso off a winner.
