Fayetteville Field Report: June 14th, 2022
The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are in the midst of their best stretch of baseball during the 2022 Carolina League season. The club took four out of six games at home against the Fredericksburg Nationals before traveling to Delmarva and winning four of five games against the Shorebirds. Here are a few
The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are in the midst of their best stretch of baseball during the 2022 Carolina League season. The club took four out of six games at home against the Fredericksburg Nationals before traveling to Delmarva and winning four of five games against the Shorebirds. Here are a few of the names that have stepped up to lead the Woodpeckers to back-to-back series victories.
SURREAL CERNY
OF Logan Cerny had a red-hot start to the season before struggling a bit through the end of April and into early May. It’s safe to say that those struggles are currently a thing of the past.
In the month of June, Cerny is hitting .421 with 4 HR and a staggering 19 RBIs. To put that number in perspective, he drove in 16 runs in April and May combined. Cerny feasted on the Delmarva Shorebirds’ pitching staff in particular, recording multiple RBIs in four out of five games including a season-high 5 RBIs on June 9. His biggest moment in that series came in Saturday’s contest, where he hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the seventh inning to give the Woodpeckers a 6-2 victory. This torrential offensive production has proven why Cerny is regarded as a top 30 prospect in the Houston Astros system by MLB.com.
TOP 7: YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! LOGAN CERNY WITH A GO-AHEAD GRAND SLAM!!!!!
— Fayetteville Woodpeckers (@WoodpeckersNC) June 12, 2022
Woodpeckers 6 - Shorebirds 2 pic.twitter.com/vKS6OaCmfc
LOPERFIDO MAKES HISTORY
In what has been an outstanding first full season with the Woodpeckers thus far, OF/INF Joey Loperfido put himself in the franchise record books…multiple times.
In the series against the Nationals, Loperfido passed teammate Miguel Palma for the longest on-base streak in Fayetteville Woodpeckers team history. That streak remains active as Loperfido has pushed it to 33 games going into the upcoming homestand. The former Duke Blue Devil wasn’t satisfied with one record, though. On Thursday night against Delmarva, Loperfido finished 5-for-6 with a double, triple, three runs scored, and three runs batted in. He became the first Fayetteville hitter with a five-hit game in franchise history and just the fifth player to record five hits in a Carolina League game this season.
Not lost in all the records Loperfido has set is his impressive statistics on the entire season. He leads the team in batting average (.308), hits (57), and doubles (12) while playing stellar defense all over the diamond.
KOUBA GETS THE CALL
It did not take very long for RHP Rhett Kouba to find himself traveling west to Asheville.
Kouba made just four appearances with the Woodpeckers before earning a promotion to the High-A Astros affiliate on June 6. He was strong both as a starter and reliever for the Woodpeckers with his best outing coming on May 31 against the Fredericksburg Nationals. Kouba went four scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two hits while striking out eight en route to his first career minor league win. He finished his brief stay in Fayetteville with a 1-0 record, a 2.40 ERA, and 20 strikeouts compared to just five walks. Kouba made his Asheville Tourists debut Saturday night against Greenville as the starting pitcher and registered a quality start, lasting six innings while allowing three runs on three hits and striking out four.
A WAR WELCOME FOR WILLIAMS
With the promotion of OF Quincy Hamilton to Asheville back on May 24, that left a Woodpeckers roster spot open for a position player to fill. Enter infielder Justin Williams.
The third baseman, who played 36 games with Fayetteville in 2021 after being drafted out of Penn State, has made an immediate impact in the middle of the Woodpeckers’ lineup. Williams is hitting .368 over 19 at-bats with a home run and five runs batted in since joining the roster on June 2. The explosiveness of his swing was on display from the get-go as he ripped a double off the center field wall at Segra Stadium in his first plate appearance of the year. That power carried over to the trip to Delmarva with Williams blasting a two-run home run to deep left center field in Friday night’s 7-1 win over the Shorebirds. He finished that contest 2-for-4 with four runs batted in and pushed his OPS to a whopping 1.013 on the year
TOP 7: Waaaaaaaaaaay gone! Justin Williams with a MAMMOTH home run to extend the lead further! 🤯
— Fayetteville Woodpeckers (@WoodpeckersNC) June 11, 2022
Woodpeckers 7 - Shorebirds 1 pic.twitter.com/8Z7T8X4Bic
ULLOLA KEEPS ON ROLLIN’
There has been a long line of Fayetteville arms that have pitched well over the 2022 Carolina League season and RHP Miguel Ullola has quickly become another member of that club. Over his last three outings, Ullola has not given up an earned run over 11.0 innings while walking just four batters compared to 16 strikeouts. This strong stretch on the mound has lowered his ERA to 2.08 on the season and his WHIP to 1.15.
BAGWELL JOINS THE BOOTH
During the previous Fayetteville home series against the Fredericksburg Nationals, former Houston Astros first baseman and 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Bagwell spent the inning with Woodpeckers broadcasters Andrew Chapman and Colin Casey. Bagwell is currently serving as a hitting instructor for the Astros and has remained with the club in various roles since 2007. He spoke with Chapman and Casey about the team, the implementation of the new pitch clock in minor league baseball, and his experience of rising through the minors on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in Astros franchise history. Click HERE to listen to what Bagwell had to say during the broadcast back on June 2!