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Down East Wood Ducks

May 18 Game Information

May 18, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Down East Wood Ducks News Release


The Wood Ducks and Dash return for the middle game of the three game set tonight at 6 p.m., when lefty John King (0-0, 1.50) makes his second start of the year for the Woodies, and first at home, opposite Dash lefty John Parke (1-2, 3.96). It's military appreciation night at Grainger Stadium, and the Wood Ducks will be giving away a patriotic cap to the first 1,000 fans, presented by Stallings, and American Standard. Gates open at 4 p.m., and the broadcast will begin at 5:50 p.m. on 960AM The Bull, and online at 960thebull.com as well as the MiLB First Pitch and TuneIn Radio Apps. For tickets and more information, visit woodducksbaseball.com or call (252) 686-5172. Complete game notes are attached.

LAST TIME OUT: Francisco Villegas retired the first nine men he faced, matching a career-high with seven strikeouts, while Sam Huff and Eric Jenkins went deep at the plate, but the first eight men to bat for the Dash in the fourth inning reached base, including a Craig Dedelow grand slam, helping Winston-Salem to an 8-2 win.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: The seven runs allowed in the fourth inning were the most allowed this season, as were the eight runs overall. The Dash sent 13 men to the plate in the frame, and tallied seven hits. It was also just the second time the Woodies have given up multiple home runs in a game this season.

QUIRKJIANS: The Woodies have now lost two straight games, and in both, the first nine opposing hitters have been retired in order, without a base runner. At the plate yesterday, all nine Wood Ducks went 1-4, in exactly 36 plate appearances as a team.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Wood Ducks 18 road wins this season are the most in all of minor league baseball. They are 18-3 on the road, compared to just 11-10 at Grainger Stadium. At home the Woodies are batting .230, with an OPS of .640, and an ERA of 3.33, and scoring an average of 4.0 runs-per-game. On the road the Woodies boast an aver-age of .261 to go along with an OPS of .726, and an ERA of 2.40, while scoring 5.2 runs-per-game. By comparison, the Woodies won 12 road games in the entire first half last season, and just 11 in the second half. The Woodies now have more road wins than Salem (16), Myrtle Beach (15), and Potomac (15) have total wins.

DOROW DOES IT AGAIN: Ryan Dorow has been clutch all season for the Wood Ducks. This season in late/close situations, Dorow is slashing .400/.526/.800, including two go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning, one being a walk-off against Fayetteville, April 27. He has also reached base in 19 consecutive games, batting .333 with an OBP of .450 over that stretch.

YONNY SETS THE TABLE: Yonny Hernandez saw his 25-game on-base streak come to an end on Thursday. The streak was the second longest to Ryan Aguilar (CAR, 26) in the Carolina League this year. Hernandez was the player of the week in the Carolina League April 15-22, reaching base 16 times in six games. He currently ranks second in the league in OBP (.442), and second in walks (28), six in runs (25), and 9th in average (.305).

POZO PROVIDES THE PUNCH: Woodies catcher Yohel Pozo has heated up at the plate as of late. He is riding a 9-game on-base streak on which he has gone 13-32 (.406) with two home runs and 7 RBI. Over that stretch he has raised his average from .222 to .280.

HUFF IS HERE!: Sam Huff was promoted to Down East from Hickory May 9, and hit his first Carolina League home run Friday against the Dash. Huff has also doubled four times in his first seven games played at the Adv.-A level. The 21-year-old catcher posted an OPS of 1.165 in Single-A, and led all of minor league baseball with 15 home runs at the time of his promotion. The Phoenix native is the 21st ranked prospect in the Rangers organization.

STRIKEOUT MACHINES: Joe Barlow has racked up the strikeouts this season for the Wood Ducks out of the bullpen. He has recorded 33 strikeouts in 18 innings, and has struck out multiple hitters in 11 of his 13 outings. Demarcus Evans has also been on a strikeout frenzy, fanning 30 in 17.2 innings this season. He has multiple strikeouts in 11 of his 14 ap-pearances, including a season-high six against Potomac on Wednesday.

DOUBLE THE FUN: Emmanuel Clase, Peter Fairbanks, and Tyler Phillips have all gotten the promotion to Double-A Frisco so far this season. Phillips allowed three runs in five innings, picking up two strikeouts in his first start on Tuesday. Fairbanks, in three games, has struck out eight in four innings, and has yet to allow a base runner. Clase has consistently hit 101 on the radar gun, but has allowed 8 ER in 8 IP so far with the Riders.

AMAZING APRIL: The Woodies 18-8 record in April is their best winning percentage (.692) of any month in team history, while the 18 victories equals the best month all-time (May 2018), when the Woodies went 18-11 (.621). The 10 games above .500 is also most in team history (previous high, +8, May 27, 2018).

RAGS AT THE HELM: Corey Ragsdale takes over as skipper for the Wood Ducks in 2019. Ragsdale will remain the Rangers Minor League Field Coordinator, while assuming a managerial seat for the first time since 2015, when he led the Hickory Crawdads to a South Atlantic League Championship, the second of his career.

SHOWTIME: Former Wood Duck Brett Martin made his MLB debut for the Rangers April 19, firing a scoreless ninth inning in a 7-2 loss to the Astros. Martin needed just nine pitches to get through the inning, recording three ground ball outs. The left-handed reliever becomes the fourth Wood Duck in franchise history to make their Major League de-but, joining Ricardo Rodriguez, Jeffrey Springs, and C.D. Pelham. Martin pitched for the Woodies in their inaugural season in 2017, helping Down East to a share of the Carolina League Championship.

TOP-30 in Kinston: The Woodies now have eight Top-30 prospects as ranked by MLB Pipeline: 2. J.P. Martinez, 4. Anderson Tejeda, 5. Bubba Thompson, 6. Leody Taveras, 19. Diosbel Arias, 20. A.J. Alexy, 21. Sam Huff and 24. Demarcus Evans.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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