Baez Blasts His First Homer with Fayetteville as Woodpeckers Fall Again
Myrtle Beach, SC – Outfielder Luis Baez launched a towering home run to left field for his first Single-A long ball, but the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (45-60, 15-24) were outpaced once again by the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (60-44, 21-18) Thursday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The Pelicans took home a 7-3 win
Myrtle Beach, SC – Outfielder Luis Baez launched a towering home run to left field for his first Single-A long ball, but the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (45-60, 15-24) were outpaced once again by the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (60-44, 21-18) Thursday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The Pelicans took home a 7-3 win over Fayetteville to hand the Woodpeckers their sixth straight defeat.
For the second time this week, Fayetteville did take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Ryan Johnson came through with an RBI ground rule double to right center that chased in Brice Matthews to open the scoring. However, Myrtle Beach responded in the bottom half with a Brian Kalmer RBI single.
Trey Dombroski (L, 4-9) pitched a scoreless second but ran into trouble in the third. The lefty allowed a two-run home run to Kalmer followed immediately by a solo shot off the bat of Johnathon Long. A pair of RBI doubles from David Avitia and Pedro Ramirez came later in the inning to cap off a five-run frame for the home team. The Pelicans added another in the fourth inning against reliever Manuel Urias, but the right-hander rolled the rest of the way, pitching a season-long five innings and striking out six.
With two outs in the fifth, Baez came up and hammered a high breaking ball from Jose Romero (W, 2-1) over everything in left and rounded the bases for the first time with the Woodpeckers. Pascanel Ferreras had an eighth-inning sacrifice fly, but Fayetteville would get no closer.
The Woodpeckers will try to end their losing skid on Friday night as LHP Jose Nodal looks to continue his strong stretch on the mound as of late. Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach sends RHP Kevin Valdez to the hill. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET.