The Pensacola Pelicans scored twice in the seventh for a 7-6 victory and a three games to one win in the South Division Series. The loss ends the Fort Worth Cats 2009 season as for the second year in a row, they dropped a first-round playoff series.
Cameron Blair gave the Cats the Cats an early lead as his first-inning home run made it 1-0 Fort Worth. It was Blair's second round-tripper of the series. Blair was 4-for-5 with two RBIs in the loss.
The Pelicans wasted no time tying the game as they scored in the first on an RBI single by Marshall McDougall. Pensacola took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Marcos Rodriguez led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single by Lou Palmisano.
Fort Worth would take the lead in the top of the fifth as Isa Garcia walked with one out, Wally Backman grounded to second before Brian Fryer reached on a two-out error to extend the inning. Blair's RBI single tied the game and Pat O'Sullivan's first hit of the series, a two-run single made it 4-2 Fort Worth.
But Pensacola answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Francisco Leandro walked to start the inning. With two outs in the inning, Chase Burch collected an RBI single, driving Cats' starter Lee Gwaltney from the game. After Marcos Rodriguez walked to load the bases, Dallas Christison hit a pop-up that was dropped by catcher Kelley Gulledge, scoring two and giving the Pelicans a 5-4 lead.
The Cats would regain the lead in the top of the seventh as John Allen clubbed a two-run homer, his first of the playoffs. But the Pelicans rallied once more, getting back-to-back RBI singles from Dallas Christison and Lou Palmisano in the seventh for a 7-6 lead.
Francisco Butto (1-0) notched the win in relief as he went 1 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on one hit. Reliever Scott Vander Weg suffered the loss for the Cats after permitting two runs in 1/3 of an inning of work.
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Hunter Davis earned the save as he closed it out in the ninth, summoning a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Pat O'Sullivan to end the game and the Cats season.
