Matthews Records Three-Hit Game as Woodpeckers Win Road Finale
Kannapolis, NC – Houston Astros first round pick Brice Matthews tallied three hits and reached base four times Sunday night at Atrium Health Ballpark as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (55-71, 25-35) took down the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (64-61, 29-31), 7-3. The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Woodpeckers and
Kannapolis, NC – Houston Astros first round pick Brice Matthews tallied three hits and reached base four times Sunday night at Atrium Health Ballpark as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (55-71, 25-35) took down the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (64-61, 29-31), 7-3. The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Woodpeckers and secured a split in their final road series of the 2023 season.
Fayetteville got another phenomenal start out of LHP Trey Dombroski (W, 6-9). The new Woodpeckers’ single season strikeout record holder followed up his milestone outing on Tuesday with five innings of one run ball and struck out seven Ballers. Jose Nodal came on and struck out five over two and two-thirds innings and Jeremy Molero (SV, 6) retired the final four batters of the game to earn the save.
Kannapolis took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Jackson Loftin changed the tides with one swing in the fourth. The Woodpeckers outfielder blasted his eighth home run of the season off Cannon Ballers reliever Mark McLaughlin (L, 1-2) to tie the game. That lit a fire under the offense which put up four more runs in the fifth inning as Luis Encarnacion hit a go-ahead two-run single and Pascanel Ferreras had an RBI double.
With the score 5-1, the Cannon Ballers did cut the lead in half on a seventh inning two-run home run from Ryan McCarthy. However, Fayetteville got those runs right back in the eighth thanks to a Garret Guillemette RBI double and a costly Kannapolis throwing error. Eight of the nine Woodpeckers starters finished with at least one base hit and all nine reached base in the victory.
Fayetteville now turns their attention to their final series of the season: a six-game set at Segra Stadium against the Charleston RiverDogs. The series begins on Tuesday night with a 7:05 ET first pitch.