The Myrtle Beach Pelicans opened the 2011 season with a 3-1 win at home over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Friday night at BB&T Coastal Field. Neil Ramirez retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced striking out 9 in 4 2/3 innings of work. Chris McGuiness had an RBI single in the first followed by a Mike Olt 2 run double to put the Birds in front 3-0 after one inning. The score stayed that way until the 8th when Wilmington scored its only run on a sacrifice fly.
Pelicans.com: Pelicans take down Rocks on opening night
The Highlight Gods not smiling
The Pelicans scored all of their runs in the first inning. With WPDE live at 7pm, all three runs were scored right in the middle of the sportscast. Neil Ramirez was outstanding and honestly, the best play of the night was this web gem by a fan who was carrying his son, walking up the stairs and catching the ball without dropping the more important souvenir (his kid!)
Fan catches foul ball while holding kid!
Attendance down, The Braves effect?
I've been to 11 of the 12 Opening Days for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and I would say that last night's crowd was the smallest for an opening night. To be fair, just one week ago, the record was tied at 6,599 when the Texas Rangers faced Coastal Carolina. I did some digging and I was able to come up with opening day attendance figures from these previous years:
Previous Pelicans Opening Day Attendance
2011: 5,069
2010: 6,366
2009: 6,599
2007: 6,047
2000: 5,836
The weather was perfect and Friday night was ideal for an Opening Night crowd. Does the lower crowd have anything to do with the Rangers taking over for the Braves? It's too early to tell, but it will be interesting to see if the attendance has a downward trend throughout the year.
