Gaston’s Clutch Double Lifts Fayetteville to Win over Cannon Ballers
Kannapolis, NC – With the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (19-29) trailing by a run in the top of the eighth with two outs, Sandro Gaston delivered one of the biggest swings of the season Friday night at Atrium Health Ballpark. The Woodpeckers’ catcher lined a bases-loaded double that scored all three and
Kannapolis, NC – With the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (19-29) trailing by a run in the top of the eighth with two outs, Sandro Gaston delivered one of the biggest swings of the season Friday night at Atrium Health Ballpark. The Woodpeckers’ catcher lined a bases-loaded double that scored all three and led Fayetteville to a thrilling 6-5 win over the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (24-24).
Woodpeckers’ starter Nic Swanson came out of the gate strong, pitching five innings while allowing a pair of unearned runs on five hits with four strikeouts. He uncorked a wild pitch in the bottom of the third that gave Kannapolis an early 1-0 advantage, but Dauri Lorenzo blasted a two-run home run in the top of the fourth to briefly give Fayetteville the lead. It was Lorenzo’s first home run as a member of the Woodpeckers. The Cannon Ballers then responded in the bottom half with an RBI single from Johnabiell Laureano to even the score, 2-2.
Things remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh inning when Kannapolis put the first three batters of the inning on base against Fayetteville reliever Jeremy Molero. Molero battled back with back-to-back strikeouts before departing in favor of Deury Carrasco (W, 2-2). Luis Pineda then came through with a two-run single to push the Ballers back in front, 4-2.
Needing a late-inning rally in the eighth, the Woodpeckers got the leadoff man on in Zach Daniels who advanced to second on a Narbe Cruz strikeout coupled with a Mason Adams wild pitch. Adams was then replaced by Pauly Milto (L, 0-1) who walked Ricardo Balogh before getting Luis Encarnacion to pop out. With two outs, John Garcia delivered a base hit to left that scored Daniels and brought Fayetteville within a run.
Kannapolis went to the bullpen again, bringing in their closer Billy Seidl who hit Lorenzo to load the bases. Up stepped Gaston who got a 1-0 fastball and found the gap in right center field to score Balogh, Garcia, and Lorenzo and give the Woodpeckers the 6-4 lead. It was Gaston’s team-leading 11th double of the year.
Carrasco returned to the mound for the bottom of the eighth where Logan Glass reached on a fielding error by Rolando Espinosa. Two batters later with Glass now at third base, Jordan Sprinkle brought him in with a sacrifice fly, bringing the Ballers back within one. That was as close as they would get as Carrasco retired the final four batters of the night to secure Fayetteville’s third win over their last four contests.
The Woodpeckers look to pick up the series win on Saturday afternoon with LHP Jose Nodal on the mound. Kannapolis counters with RHP Tanner McDougal. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 ET.