Fayetteville Shut Down By Down East Pitching Friday Night 

Kinston, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (51-72, 20-38) could not solve the arms of the Down East Wood Ducks’ pitching staff Friday night at Grainger Stadium as the Woodpeckers fell by a 5-1 final score. With the win, Down East has evened the series at two games apiece.

Wood Ducks starter Gavin Collyer (W, 6-4) started the ballgame perfect through four innings as he retired Fayetteville’s first 12 batters. Zach Dezenzo drew a walk to begin the fifth inning to break up Collyer’s bid for a perfect game. On the other side, Woodpeckers starter Deylen Miley was equally elite, shutting out Down East over his four innings of work and tying a season-high eight strikeouts.

Andre Scrubb (L, 0-1) came on for the fifth inning as he continued his rehab assignment from Triple-A Sugar Land. Yeison Morrobel greeted him with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a groundout. Moments later, Marcus Smith singled Morrobel in to break the scoreless tie. Smith stole second and also moved up to third on a grounder before sprinting home on a wild pitch by Scrubb to double Down East’s lead. Shea Barry came on to get the final out of the inning, allowing another run on a wild pitch but caught Yosy Galan between third and home to escape.

Collyer pitched a clean fifth before hitting John Garcia with a pitch to begin the sixth. With two outs in the frame and Garcia up to third, Jacob Melton delivered Fayetteville’s first hit of the contest and drove in Garcia to make it 3-1. But the Ducks got that run right back against Zack Matthews in the bottom half on an RBI single from Morrobel. Cam Cauley added another run on a groundout that plated Smith in the seventh to round out the scoring. The back end of the bullpen came through though as Walker Brockhouse ended the seventh inning before Brett Gillis pitched a clean eighth in his Single-A debut.

Like Collyer, Down East reliever Florencio Serrano (SV, 1) was lights out on the mound. Serrano blanked the Woodpeckers over the final three innings to earn his first save of the season and end a two-game losing skid for the Wood Ducks.

With the series all tied up, both teams look to grab the upper hand on Saturday night. RHP Valente Bellozo gets the ball for Fayetteville while Down East counters with RHP Josh Gessner. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 ET in Kinston.

FULL BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669631/final/box