With the first two games of a three-game series having gone the way of the Salem Red Sox, the Pelicans showed their fight in game three.

Myrtle Beach salvaged the series finale of the three-game set with a 12-inning 5-2 win at Lewis-Gale Field. The Pelicans broke out for three runs in the top of the 12th after it seemed both teams had saved all their drama for the ninth.

The scoring was rare and sparse with the scoreboard packed full of zeroes until the fifth inning. With one out, the Pelicans got Stephen Shults and Benji Johnson aboard on a single and a double. With runners at the corners, a C.J. Lee groundout scored Shults and got Myrtle Beach a 1-0 lead. Things would stay that way until the eighth when Mike Jones doubled with one out.  Salem lifted Jones in favor of pinch runner Matt Sheely who scored one batter later on an RBI single by William Vazquez to tie things at one run apiece.

In the ninth, the Pelicans built a two-out rally, following yet another Shults double with walks by Cole Miles and Michael Fisher to load the bases. Sox reliever Jose Capellan then plunked Freddie Freeman, scoring the go-ahead run. Salem didn’t go quietly in the bottom of the ninth, however, with Daniel Nava working a one-out walk, moving to second on an error charged to Freeman on a pickoff attempt and scoring on a wild pitch by Pelicans reliever Benino Pruneda.

The 2-2 tie overshadowed solid efforts by Pelicans starter Jacob Thompson and Salem’s Kyle Weiland. Thompson shutout the Sox on one hit over six innings and worked around six walks before departing in line for the win.  Weiland was almost as good, allowing one run on five hits also over six frames. The game would stay knotted until the 12th when Pelicans’ light-swinging outfielder Lee crushed his second homer of the season, a three-run shot off Robert Coello (2-1) that plated Shults and Johnson. Brandon Beachy (1-0) earned the win with three innings of shutout relief.

Myrtle Beach returns home Monday for the first of seven games in seven days. A four-game series with the Lynchburg Hillcats opens Monday evening at 7:05, and all kids ages 12 and under eat for free that night with a voucher for a hot dog, bag of chips and soda available upon admission. The following night, the Pelicans and Hillcats will tee it up for the first 2009 doubleheader at BB&T Coastal Field. Dollar hot dogs return for both Tuesday games. Following the series finale Wednesday night against Lynchburg, the Pelicans have a day off on Thursday and then host the Frederick Keys for their final series of the first half.

Tickets are available at the BB&T Coastal Field box office, by calling the Pelicans at (843)918-6000 or by visiting the Tickets page at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com.