Cerny, Loperfido Feast at the Plate as Woodpeckers Blow Out Shorebirds

Salisbury, MD - Logan Cerny homered and drove in five runs, Joey Loperfido had five hits of his own, and the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (25-29) bounced back to beat the Delmarva Shorebirds (19-35) Thursday night at Arthur W. Purdue Stadium, 15-5. It was the most runs scored in a game by Fayetteville this season as the Woodpeckers improved their record to 5-3 in the month of June.

Fayetteville was able to hit Delmarva starter Ryan Long (L, 1-2) early on. Leosdany Molina reached on a single with one out in the top of the first before stealing second base. Loperfido followed suit with a base hit of his own to put runners at the corners for Cerny. The Woodpeckers center fielder drove a 2-0 pitch just over the left center field wall to put his team on top, 3-0. It was Cerny’s ninth home run of 2022 and his third over his last five games.

In the bottom half, the Shorebirds got one back against Fayetteville’s Miguel Ullola when leadoff hitter Luis Valdez drew a walk before stealing second and third and trotting home on an errant throw by Ullola.

Loperfido followed up his first-inning single with a two-out triple in the top of the third, but was stranded there to end the inning. He came back to the plate with two outs in the fifth and came through with a two-run double to extend Fayetteville’s lead to 5-1.

Ullola was lifted ahead of the fifth inning after allowing one unearned run over four innings while striking out a season-high seven batters. He was replaced by Bryant Salgado (W, 4-3), who was greeted by a solo home run from Delmarva’s Brayan Hernandez to cut it to 5-2. After hitting the next batter, Salgado settled in and retired the next three batters to end the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, Cerny led off with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Miguel Palma. He then swiped third base and raced home on a force out to second to make it 6-2 Woodpeckers. The following inning, Molina came home on a failed pickoff attempt before Cerny drove in Loperfido with a single to push the lead to 8-2.

The Shorebirds cut into the deficit in the bottom half of the seventh. Salgado issued a pair of bases-loaded walks to bring the score to 8-4 before departing in favor of Kasey Ford. Ford surrendered an RBI single before escaping the inning.

Fayetteville exploded offensively in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach. Molina kicked it off by driving home Rainier Rivas on a single to center. Moments later, Loperfido singled home Kenedy Corona for his fifth hit of the night, the most by a Woodpecker in a single game this season. Cerny then drove in Molina with a base hit for his fifth RBI of the night, also a single-game high on the year. Loperfido dashed home on a poor throw to second on a stolen base for Cerny to grow the lead to 12-5. After Palma drew a walk, Tyler Whitaker roped a ground rule double to right center, scoring Cerny. Rivas came to the plate for the second time in the inning and drove home Palma and Whitaker on a single to close out the scoring in a seven-run top of the eighth.

Ford came back out for the eighth and got a timely double play to shake off a one-out walk. He returned for the bottom of the ninth and retired the final three batters he faced in order to end the ballgame.

The Woodpeckers now take a 2-1 series lead into Friday night’s contest where RHP Zack Matthews is scheduled to start. For the Shorebirds, RHP Moises Chace will try to help even things up on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET in Salisbury.

GAME BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669776/final/box