Woodies Fall in Home Opener

Thursday, April 6, 2023
By Jackson Pass

In the three-game series between the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers and Down East Wood Ducks, the Cannon Ballers struck one across the board in the opening frame with Camilletti crossing the plate on a bases loaded RBI walk to Logan. The Woodies bats started slow with no hits through the first three innings against Kannapolis starter, Tyler Schweitzer.

Going into the fourth, Kannapolis had two back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning by Logan and Lanzilli. The double by Lanzilli drove in Logan from second, extending the lead to 2-0 Cannon Ballers. The Woodies turned it around in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs to tie the game, as Gutierrez led off with a single, scoring on a hit by Figuereo, and Figuereo scoring on a two out double by Villarroel. The Woodies took the lead in the bottom of the sixth against new reliever, Drew McDaniel, hitting Yeison Morrobel and throwing a wild pitch to allow him to advance to second. A fielding error made it runners on first and third, with Figuereo crushing a double to plate Morrobel, 3-2 Woodies.

The lead didn’t last for long for the Woodies as Tim Elko smashed a three-run bomb over the left centerfield wall in the top of the seventh to bring the Cannon Ballers back ahead. The Woodies scored one run on a two hit eighth inning, but it was too little too late, and were shut down in the ninth by Kannapolis closer Billy Seidl, who picked up the save on the night and the win was credited to Drew McDaniel, ending in a 5-4 loss for the Wood Ducks on Opening Day.

The Wood Ducks (0-1) and Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (1-0) play game two tomorrow on Friday, April 7th, with the Cannon Ballers 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 – 10am - 4pm). Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook so you don’t miss anything!