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CarL Fayetteville Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers Prevail in Back-and-Forth Battle With Wood Ducks

August 9, 2022 - Carolina League (CarL)
Fayetteville Woodpeckers News Release


Fayetteville Woodpeckers in action
Fayetteville Woodpeckers in action
(Fayetteville Woodpeckers)

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (46-55, 15-21) returned to Segra Stadium on Tuesday night and withstood a contest that featured two go-ahead home runs and four total lead changes, pulling out a 6-5 win over the Down East Wood Ducks (50-52, 17-19) in the series opener. Tuesday's lineup took on a new look with five players from the Astros 2022 draft class making their Woodpeckers' debut.

Down East cracked the scoreboard first on a two-run homer from Ian Moller in the top of the second inning off of Deylen Miley. The long-ball proved to be Miley's only mistake of the evening. He didn't walk a single hitter and struck out seven Wood Ducks over five innings of work. It was the first time this season Miley did not walk a batter during a start, and his seven K's fell one shy of tying his career-high mark.

Miley was briefly in line for a winning decision when the Woodpeckers rallied from behind in the fourth inning against Mitch Bratt. Collin Price, Zach Dezenzo and Tyler Whitaker started the inning with three straight singles and set the stage for Zach Cole, who walked in the first run and cut the game to 2-1. In the next at bat, Garrett McGowan ripped a two-run double into right-center field, giving the Woodpeckers a 3-2 lead on his first Carolina League base hit.

Nic Swanson (W, 3-2) took over for Miley in the sixth and surrendered a two-out two-run homer to Yosy Galan, flipping the lead to Down East's favor, 4-3. In near identical fashion, the Woodpeckers came up with a huge two-out swing in the bottom of the sixth, as Leosdany Molina bashed a go-ahead two-run shot off Nick Lockhart (L, 2-3) and turned the 5-4 lead towards Fayetteville.

Whitaker provided a critical insurance run in the seventh, punching an Adrian Rodriguez fastball over the right-field wall for his ninth home run of the season. The solo shot was the third in as many games for Whitaker and gave Fayetteville a 6-4 cushion.

Down East threatened again in the eighth, putting the first two batters on base via walk before Swanson shut down the scoring threat with three straight strikeouts against the heart of the order. The extra run from the Whitaker homer was needed in the ninth once Moller hit his second homer of the game to cut it to 6-5. Following the fourth collective home run of the contest, Swanson rebounded once again, striking out Abimelec Ortiz and Zion Bannister to secure the victory.

The series continues on Wednesday with a doubleheader scheduled at Segra Stadium beginning at 4:30 pm ET. The second game will start no earlier than 7:05 pm ET. The Woodpeckers are slated to start RHP Alex Santos in game one and hand the ball to RHP Edinson Batista for game two.

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Fayetteville Woodpeckers in action
Fayetteville Woodpeckers in action
   



Carolina League Stories from August 9, 2022


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