Fayetteville Clinches the Series

8/26 Game Recap

By: Jackson Pass

In game five of the series between the Fayetteville Woodpeckers and the Down East Wood Ducks, Brock Porter started on the mound for the Woodies sitting down the first three batters of the game to strikeout the side. On the other side Espinosa also went one, two, three in the first with two strikeouts. Porter continued to throw well in the second to retire the first six batters of the night, adding another strikeout to his tally. Blackmon was the first player to reach base on the night with a two out walk in the second, advancing a base on a walk before he was left in scoring position. The Woodpeckers were the first to score on the night with Loftin reaching on a hit by pitch and Lorenzo reaching on a fielder’s choice error before Fisher smacked a two-RBI triple down the right field line, Woodpeckers up 2-0. Espinosa sat down the Woodies in the bottom half for another one, two, three innings.

Porter settled back down in the fourth to strikeout two of the three batters he faced. Espinosa continued on his strong performance so far with three straight strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth. In the fifth Porter was replaced by Drake, finishing his night with 4.0 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs and 8 strikeouts. Loftin led off the inning with a solo shot into left center to increase the Woodpeckers lead to 3-0. The Woodies put one on the board in the bottom of the fifth, Blackmon reached on a broken bat single and was driven in on a RBI triple by Bannister down the right field line, Woodpeckers 3-1. The Woodpeckers extended their lead in the top of the sixth, as Baez brought in Matthews on a triple, Guillemette had a sac fly to center, and with Encarnacion on second base, Loftin reached on a throwing error from the shortstop that Encarnacion scored on, Woodpeckers 6-1. Espinosa started the sixth inning retiring the first two batters before giving up a walk to end his night with 6.2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run and 10 strikeouts. Carrasco entered the game to replace Espinosa and retired the last out of the sixth on a groundout.

The Woodpeckers added one more run in the top of the seventh with Matthews hitting a leadoff infield single, Baez doubling, and Guillemette scoring Matthewa on a sac fly to left. Blackmon tripled in the seventh, being stranded to end the seventh. The eighth went scoreless as we headed into the ninth with Widger taking over on the mound for Drake. Widger gave up a single to his first batter, struck out the next two and got a flyout to end the inning. The Woodies went down one, two, three on the night for a 7-1 Woodpeckers win with the win going to Espinosa and the save to Carrasco.

The Wood Ducks (62-52) and Fayetteville Woodpeckers (51-68) play game six tomorrow, August 27th, with the Woodpeckers leading the series 4-1, as the first pitch is set for 1pm in Kinston, NC at Grainger Stadium. All fans can come out for Dogs and Dogs Day presented by Minuteman Food Mart and Riverbank Animal Hospital.

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 (Tues-Fri – 10am - 4pm). Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook so you don’t miss anything!