The Pelicans blanked the Captains 4-0 in the final regular season game Sunday night in a timely manner: an American Association record hour and thirty-one minutes. Kieran Mattison picked up his second win as a Pelican in as many starts, cruising for five innings. The Pelicans supported their starter with two runs in the first inning, and squeezed out two more over the course of the contest.

Chase Burch hit his first home run in the second half of the season in the bottom of the second inning. His ninth long ball of the year followed a Marshall McDougall single and put the Pelicans on top 2-0.

The Pels would add another run in the sixth inning when Adam Deleo led off with a double. On a Marcos Rodriguez single, Deleo advanced to third, scoring when Jason Diaz grounded out to the first baseman.

Pensacola tacked on their last run of the regular season in the bottom of the seventh, when Chase Burch recorded his second hit of the night, a single. Lou Palmisano hit safely as well, and Adam Darby drove Burch in with a base knock. The 4-0 Pelicans’ lead would last until the end of the game.

The game was the shortest nine-inning contest in the four-year old American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. After Kieran Mattison pitched five scoreless innings while scattering four hits and striking out two, Kevin Cooper tossed three more of his own, yielding three hits and picking up a strikeout. Ulysses Roque allowed a lead off single in the ninth, then induced a 6-4-3 double play and another groundout to seal the game.

The Pelicans close the regular season ten games over .500 at 53-43. Pensacola will continue their 2009 campaign on Tuesday when they face the Fort Worth Cats in Texas for the first of a best-of-five series to determine the South Division winner. Aaron Jackson is projected to start the 7:05 ballgame for the Pelicans. Fans can hear all the action via NewsRadio 1620, or online with SportsJuice.com.