Down East Falters Late Against Carolina

KINSTON, NC - Despite only allowing three hits and collecting a season-high 18 strikeouts, the Wood Ducks (25-26, 49-71) fell in 12 innings to the Mudcats (22-29, 58-61) by a 3-2 final. Starting pitcher Kyle Cody matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts in six and two-thirds of work.

Offensively, four Woodies had multi-hit nights including Carlos Garay, Ti'Quan Forbes, Preston Scott, and Evan Van Hoosier. Forbes had the only hit with runners in scoring position - a two-out single to center in the sixth. Down East finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Monday.
Cody's night began on the wrong foot, or leg, by hitting the first batter of the game in the leg. Yet he would collect at least one strikeout in each of his innings while striking out the side in the fourth. The right-hander did not allow a hit until the fifth inning - a jammed single to left field.
Down East scored first in the third, taking advantage of three Carolina errors in the inning. Matt Lipka scored from third when Weston Wilson misplayed a grounder from Garay at third base. They would add another on Forbes' single in the sixth to lead 2-0.
In the seventh, Cody allowed a leadoff walk but got the next two outs with a strikeout and a fielder's choice. He would walk McDowell with two outs and he was pulled for Jose Valdespina.
Before his first pitch, he was called for a balk that moved runners to second and third. Wendell Rijo would bloop a single to shallow center and allowed both runners to score and tie the game.
The Woodies would leave runners on base in each of the next four innings - most notably in the ninth, after a leadoff triple from Van Hoosier. Meanwhile the bullpen of Valdespina and Adam Choplick retired the side in order from innings eight through ten.
Choplick left two stranded in the 11th with his third strikeout of the night and gave way for Tyler Ferguson in the 12th. A hit batsman and a two-out walk extended the inning and set up Trent Clark's game-winning single up the middle to push the Mudcats ahead 3-2.
The single was only Carolina's third of the night. On the bright side, Buies Creek also lost on Monday night which means Down East doesn't lose any ground in the playoff race.
Game two of the series is on Tuesday night with lefty Wes Benjamin (8-6, 4.31) taking on right-hander Marcos Diplan (6-7, 5.54). First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. and you can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.