Back-and-Forth Finish Stuns Howlers in Series Finale

A topsy-turvy game fell in favor of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers as they held on to win 10-9 over the Hill City Howlers on Sunday.

The Howlers were no-hit until the sixth inning. From the fifth inning through the eighth, the two teams combined for 17 total runs.

Fayetteville scored in the first inning as Josh Wakefield led off the game with a double. Two batters later, Kevin Alvarez brought him home to take the early lead.

Hill City responded in the second inning as Jose Pirela put pressure on the Woodpeckers, walking and then stealing twice to stand at third with no one out. Yeiferth Castillo grounded into a double play, but Pirela was able to touch home to knot the game at one.

The game started to slip away from the Howlers in the fifth inning as German Ramirez drove home a run with a sacrifice fly. One batter later, Josh Wakefield drilled a two-run home run to right field, extending the lead further. Waner Luciano continued his hot week with an RBI double, making it a 5-1 ballgame.

The Howlers came to life in the sixth as they scored three to cut the deficit to one. Juneiker Caceres brought home a run with an RBI single before Yeiferth Castillo drove home a run after grounding out. Reiner Herrera finished up the inning, picking up the third run with his first Single-A base hit.

Luciano met the Howlers rally in the top of the seventh inning as he turned on a heater for his fourth homer in as many games, extending the Fayetteville lead back to two.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Fayetteville lead evaporated. Jose Pirela drilled an RBI single off the center field wall to cut the defecit to one. Castillo followed with a go-ahead two run single for the first Howler lead of the afternoon. A wild pitch allowed Cannon Peebles to scamper home for an insurance run that put Hill City up 8-6.

The game changed hands again in the top of the eighth inning. Josh Wakefield singled a run home to trim the Howler lead to one. Five walks in the frame allowed the next two runs to score before a wild pitch sealed the deal and made it a 10-8 Woodpecker lead.

Caceres helped Hill City get a little closer in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single that plated Jhorvic Abreus, but a clean ninth for Fayetteville halted the Howlers chances at a series split.

Hill City remains home for the coming week as the Charleston RiverDogs come to down for a six-game series before the All-Star Break. Tickets for the series, beginning on Tuesday, are available at hchowlers.com.