Woodpeckers Can't Solve Wilson Starting Pitching in Education Day Loss

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (11-18) surrendered a trio of late runs on Wednesday afternoon that proved costly in a 5-3 defeat to the Wilson Warbirds (13-16) on Education Day at Segra Stadium.

Fayetteville’s lineup struggled to solve Wilson starting pitcher Carlos Carra (W, 1-5) over six innings. The right-hander from Mexico delivered a quality start and surrendered just one run on an RBI double from Nehomar Ochoa Jr. that tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

A timing play at the plate in the top of the fifth allowed Brady Ebel to score the go-ahead run moments before Frederi Montero was tagged out in a rundown near first base for the inning’s final out.

Leomar Rosario entered the game trailing 2-1 in the top of the eighth and was tagged for multiple runs. The hard-throwing righty had not allowed an earned run since April 5th, but saw that streak come to an end after walking Frederi Montero and surrendering a two-run homer moments later to Kevin Garcia.

Wilson added another run on a Jose Anderson sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

Fayetteville hung around over the final two innings. Arturo Flores clubbed his fourth homer of the season in the top of the eighth that made it 4-2, and returned to the plate representing the go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth.

With runners at first and third, Jose Meneses (SV, 2) coaxed a grounder to third from Flores that was converted for the game's final out.

The six-game series is level going into Thursday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 PM. The Woodpeckers are projected to start RHP Javier Perez opposite Wilson’s RHP Tyler Renz.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/827275/final/box