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Fayetteville Field Report: May 31st, 2022

By Andrew Chapman
May 31, 2022

The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are getting ready to return to Segra Stadium after 12 straight games on the road. The Woodpeckers finished the road swing going 7-5, sweeping the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in six straight before dropping five of six against the Down East Wood Ducks. Below are some of the

The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are getting ready to return to Segra Stadium after 12 straight games on the road. The Woodpeckers finished the road swing going 7-5, sweeping the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in six straight before dropping five of six against the Down East Wood Ducks. Below are some of the latest storylines and trends heading into the Woodpeckers coming six-game homestand against the Fredericksburg Nationals.

A Historic Winning Streak

The Woodpeckers opened their 12-game road trip in the best possible way, sweeping the division rival Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in a six-game series at Atrium Health Ballpark. Not only did the stretch mark the first time in franchise history that Fayetteville swept a six-game series since the format was installed in 2021, but it also set a new record as the longest winning streak in franchise history. The Woodpeckers had flirted with the chance to set a new record multiple times in the past, winning five straight games on three separate occasions in 2019 and once during the 2021 campaign. Each time previously, the streak stalled at five.

Over the course of the six-game winning streak the Woodpeckers offense erupted for 13 home-run, the most in a single series this year, and outscored the Cannon Ballers 47-23 throughout the week. The winning streak ended after a 4-3 loss in ten innings at Down East on Tuesday, May 24th.

Q On the Move

On Tuesday, May 24th, OF Quincy Hamilton was promoted to the High-A Asheville Tourists, becoming the sixth player and first position player to earn a promotion to High-A this season. At the time of his promotion, Hamilton led the Woodpeckers in hits (39), HR (6), RBI (19), R (22) TB (65) and slashed .291/.400/.485 over 36 games. He batted .348 in May and held the sixth highest OPS in the Carolina League during the month at 1.024.

Hamilton broke onto the professional scene in 2021 after being named the Horizon League Player of the Year at Wright State University. He was grabbed in the fifth round by the Houston Astros and became the top position player from the 2021 class to sign into the system. Across 2021 and 2022 Hamilton tallied 69 Low-A hits over 69 games, swatted 8 HR, drove in 39 RBI. He is already out to a blazing start in Asheville, going 9-for-18 with a HR and 4 RBI over his first five High-A games.

Prior to his promotion to High-A we had the chance to talk with Quincy on the Woodpeckers Pregame Show. That interview can be heard HERE.

Corona, Find Your Swing

Outfielder Kenedy Corona has broken out to one of the best offensive stretches of his career over the last two weeks on the road. In Kannapolis Corona homered in three straight games from 5/20-5/22, becoming the first Fayetteville hitter to accomplish the feat this season. He continued to pound the ball in Kinston, hitting a go-ahead two-run HR in the top of the tenth inning on 5/26 to give Fayetteville their only win of the week over the Wood Ducks.

He also hit a solo HR on Saturday, breaking a tie with Quincy Hamilton at the top of the Woodpeckers home-run leaderboard and placing him in a tie for second in the Carolina League home-run race. In total over 11 road games played, Corona slashed .378/.417/.800 with 5 HR, 12 RBI, 10 R, 3 BB, 9 K. Over that stretch beginning on May 17th, Corona raised his season batting average from .179 to .252, his OPS from .618 to .834.

The Streaks

-Joey Loperfido reached base in every game he played in over the last two weeks by either walk or hit, and has now reached base safely in 23 straight games. His on-base streak is the longest by any Fayetteville player this season, the third longest active streak in the Carolina League, and the second longest OBS in Woodpeckers franchise history. He trails only Miguel Palma who reached base safely in 26 straight games between the end of the 2021 season and the start of the 2022 season.

-Kenedy Corona had a hit in all 11 road games he played in over the last two series. His 11-game hitting streak is the second longest by a Fayetteville player this year, trailing only Tyler Whitaker, who hit safely in 12 straight games between 4/12-4/24.

-On Friday night in Kinston, RHP Deylen Miley and Alex Santos combined to strikeout ten consecutive Down East hitters, marking the longest stretch of consecutive strikeouts by Fayetteville pitching in franchise history. Miley closed his five-inning start by striking out the final five batters he faced, and Santos struck out the first five hitters he faced out of the bullpen starting in the sixth inning.

The Curse of Grainger Stadium

Four of the Woodpeckers five losses at Grainger Stadium last week came in games decided by a single run. Twice the Wood Ducks walked off on Fayetteville, the most gut-wrenching of which came on Friday night when Abi Ortiz hit a two-run walk-off HR in the bottom of the ninth with Down East down to their final strike.

This continues an unlucky trend for the Woodpeckers when playing at Grainger Stadium. In 2021, Down East walked off on Fayetteville in consecutive games of a doubleheader on 7/29/21. Adding in the two most recent walk-offs this week, The Wood Ducks have now walked off Fayetteville four times over the last calendar year. Even more daunting is when the scope is expanded back to the 2019 season and you examine all of the one-run games played between the two sides at Grainger Stadium. Since that inaugural season, the Woodpeckers played in 12 of those one-run games and lost every single one of them, 0-12. No true explanation. Call it the curse of Grainger Stadium.