Palma and Mascai’s Big Blasts Power Fayetteville Past Augusta
North Augusta, SC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (5-9) had been held without a home run for the previous three games by the Augusta GreenJackets (6-8). That quickly changed Saturday night at SRP Park. Miguel Palma and Victor Mascai both came through with homers late as the Woodpeckers defeated the GreenJackets
North Augusta, SC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (5-9) had been held without a home run for the previous three games by the Augusta GreenJackets (6-8).
That quickly changed Saturday night at SRP Park. Miguel Palma and Victor Mascai both came through with homers late as the Woodpeckers defeated the GreenJackets by a 6-2 final. With the victory, Fayetteville takes the series lead, 3-2.
It was a pitcher’s duel early on in North Augusta as the Woodpeckers got another excellent start from RHP Ryan Gusto, who pitched four scoreless innings allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three. On the other side, GreenJackets starting pitcher Landon Leach was flawless, going six shutout innings with just one hit allowed and eight strikeouts.
Augusta picked up the first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Brandol Mezquita grounded out to third, allowing Cal Conley to come across to score. However, Woodpeckers reliever Edinson Batista (W, 1-0) pitched his way out of the jam with just the one run scored before coming back out to record a scoreless sixth.
Fayetteville got the bats going in the top of the seventh. Leosdany Molina drew a one-out walk and Tyler Whitaker followed that up with a base hit. That set the table for Palma, who waited on a 2-1 breaking ball and lined it over the left field fence for his second long ball of the year. The three-run blast gave the Woodpeckers a 3-1 lead. The GreenJackets got one back in the bottom half on an RBI triple from Mahki Backstrom, his second consecutive game with a triple.
With a one-run lead going into the ninth, the Woodpeckers needed insurance. Joey Loperfido made it to second with one out after a single and an Augusta throwing error. Cody Orr drove him in on a base hit with another error to make it 4-2. After Orr moved up to third on a passed ball, Mascai connected on one for a tape measure two-run bomb to double the lead. The four-run edge was plenty enough for Jose Betances (SV, 2), who struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth after issuing a pair of walks to finish it off.
The final game of the series will be Sunday afternoon at SRP Park. RHP Nic Swanson (0-1, 6.75) gets the start for Fayetteville while RHP Tyler Owens (1-0, 5.14) is scheduled to pitch for Augusta. First pitch is at 2:05 EST.