High Scoring Contest

8/25 Game Recap

By: Jackson Pass

In game four of the series between the Fayetteville Woodpeckers and the Down East Wood Ducks, Fayetteville jumped out to an early lead against Woodies starter Joseph Montalvo after four Fayetteville singles and an error allowed three runs to cross the plate. Cam Fisher and Encarnacion scored on an outfield error and Balough was driven in on a Molina single. The Woodies slowly crept back in the game against Fayetteville starter Taylor with one run innings in the third and fourth to make the game 3-2. Gutierrez drove in Hurdle on a RBI fielder’s choice in the third and Villarroel scored on a sac fly to left field in the fourth from Calarco, Woodpeckers 3-2.

The fifth went scoreless and the Woodies scored once again in the sixth with another one run frame to tie the game up. With Villarroel on third and Calarco on first with two outs, Cueva was in a 3-2 count and walked with Calarco taking off for second on the pitch. The catcher made a mental error trying to throw out Calarco on a ball that sailed into center for Villarroel to trot home. The Woodpeckers couldn’t score in the top of the seventh, with the Woodies staff of Montalvo and Damian Mendoza shutting them down for five consecutive innings. The Woodies exploded for four runs in the bottom of the seventh against Alimber Santa for a five-hit inning with Calarco picking up an RBI single, Moller with a two RBI triple, and Cueva with an RBI single to put the Woodies up 7-3.

The Woodpeckers would not go away, scoring two in the top of the eighth against Adrian Rodriguez as the first two batters walked, Matthews and Baez, as Matthews came around to score on a wild pitch and Baez later scored on a sac fly to right from Fisher to cut the Woodies lead down to two runs, 7-5. The Woodies returned the favor scoring two more in the bottom of the eigth as Scott and Gutierrez led off with hit by pitches. Scott scored on a RBI single by Figuereo and Gutierrez scored on a sac fly to center by Villarroel, 9-5 Woodies. The Woodpeckers kept fighting in the ninth to put two runs on the board as it was too little too late as Santander led off with a single and Loftin walked, both scoring on a double from Baez. The game ended at 9-7 in a Woodies win as Mota finished off the game. The win on the night was credited to Damian Mendoza, who threw 2.0 innings with 5 strikeouts.

The Wood Ducks (62-51) and Fayetteville Woodpeckers (50-68) play game five tomorrow, August 26th, with the Woodpeckers leading the series 3-1, as the first pitch is set for 7pm in Kinston, NC at Grainger Stadium. All fans can come out for Pepsi Saturday and an ECU jersey giveaway presented by Pepsi.

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!