CarL Down East Wood Ducks

Walk-off Woodies

May 24, 2022 - Carolina League (CarL)
Down East Wood Ducks News Release


Woodies started the game with Gavin Collyer on the mound, who allowed two on with walks in the first but found his groove, retiring six straight in the second and third innings. On the other side, for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Christian Mejias started on the bump, pitching well through two innings, and gave up a run in the third as the Woodies take the lead 1-0 on a bases loaded sacrifice fly to right field by Marcus Smith that scored Efrenyer Narvaez.

The middle innings were quiet as both teams failed to plate any runs with the Woodies up to four hits on the night through six innings. A stellar pitching performance by Gavin Collyer who threw six giving up on one hit to the Woodpeckers lineup, ended his night with three straight outs to left fielder Alejandro Osuna. Mejias also threw six innings, in which he allowed four hits and one run with four strikeouts.

The game was turned over to the relievers in the close 1-0 battle, with Theo McDowell coming out of the pen in the seventh, throwing one inning with a strikeout and a hit against him on four batters faced. In the bottom of the seventh, Nic Swanson replaced Mejias and was jumped on early, as the Woodies got two hits off of him, resulting in a run with Mateo scoring from first on a two out RBI double from Junior Paniagua.

Nick Lockhart entered to pitch for the Woodies, following suit, throwing one inning retiring three straight, ending his night with a backwards K. The Woodies got one on in the eighth but were doubled off on a popup to the shortstop that ended the inning.

Heading into the top of the ninth, Woodies pitcher Jackson Leath stepped up to the mound and the inning started off with an error by the shortstop, allowing Molina on and a wild pitch moved him up to second. An RBI double by Joey Loperfido plated one. Loperfido later scored on a single by Victor Mascai, tying the game up at two going into the bottom half. The Woodies failed to get anything going in the bottom half as we went into extras.

A placement runner, Cody Orr was put on second base to start the extra innings for the Woodpeckers, with the Woodies holding him there on a 6-3 groundout for the first out and Daniel Mateo threw him out at the plate from center on a single by Jaxon Hallmark, who advanced to second on the throw. Hallmark scored on a RBI single by Kenedy Corona with the Woodpeckers taking the lead 3-2. The Woodies hoped to rally and save this game in the bottom half with Swanson still pitching for the Woodpeckers, Mateo started at second and was driven in on a single by Narvaez, tying the game at 3-3. A single by Paniagua moved Narvaez up to second, in which Jose Acosta came in to pinch run for Narvaez. Osuna walked to load the bases, as Cam Cauley stepped up to the plate. Cauley drove a ball into right over the right fielders head, scoring Jose Acosta from third, ending the game in a 4-3 WOODIES WALK-OFF WIN!!!

The Wood Ducks (17-23) and Fayetteville Woodpeckers (18-22) continue their series tomorrow, on Wednesday, May 25th, with the Woodies leading the series 1-0, as the first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. in Kinston, NC at Grainger Stadium.

Fans can purchase tickets on woodducksbaseball.com, by calling the Wood Ducks Team Offices at (252) 686-5164 or in the Wood Ducks Team Offices located at Grainger Stadium (Mon-Fri - 9am - 4pm). Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook so you don't miss anything!

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Carolina League Stories from May 24, 2022


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