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Pelicans Start Could-Be Tradition With Pre-Season Match-Up With Charleston RiverDogs |
The first match-up of the Pelicans & the RiverDogs will take place on Myrtle Beach’s home turf. |
For the first time in South Carolina history, the state’s two coastal single-A baseball teams will go head to head. Longtime rivals although they’ve never taken the field together, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and the Charleston RiverDogs will celebrate April Fool’s Day with their first-time match-up at Coastal Federal Field at 6:05pm.
“This is a great opportunity for our fans to see the 2003 Pelicans club play a team we’ve never played before,” said Pelicans General Manager Matt O’Brien. “This is a little about pre-season exhibition and a little about coastal bragging rights.”
“We look forward to building a rivalry on the field between these two unique communities by capitalizing on the rivalry that exists, already, off the field,” added RiverDogs GM Derek Sharrer.
The RiverDogs will travel the mere 100 miles up Highway 17 that separates the two clubs for the exhibition game that will be the first played in the 2003 season by each club.
The championship trophy has yet to be determined, but possibilities such as a bucket of sand or a US 17 traffic cone have been tossed around. So far, the teams have agreed to a two-year, home-and-away series that they hope will become an annual tradition.
Class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, the Pelicans belong to the Carolina League while the Riverdogs, the Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, play in the South Atlantic League.
