Fayetteville Falls to FredNats in Battle of Bullpens

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (18-22) struck out 16 times and scratched across just one run on Tuesday night in a 3-1 loss to the first place Fredericksburg Nationals (28-12) at Segra Stadium.

Fredericksburg capitalized on two walks in the first inning from Ryan Verdugo (L, 1-3), opening up a 2-0 lead on a throwing error and RBI single from Jacob Walsh. Verdugo settled in the rest of his start, working through the fourth and lowering his season ERA to 2.96.

Kevin Alvarez supplied Fayetteville’s lone run in the bottom of the third, driving in Anthony Huezo with a sacrifice fly to left field that cut the deficit to 2-1.

An RBI double in the top of the fifth from Gavin Fien capped the scoring for the night as the game turned to a battle of the bullpens. Jagger Beck delivered one of his best relief outings of the season, blanking the league’s top lineup across four innings and tying his career high seven seven strikeouts. The 19-year-old threw 41 of his 66 pitches for strikes and saw his fastball top out at 96 MPH.

The FredNats trio of Levi Huesman (W, 1-0), Julian Tonghini and Cesar Rojas (SV, 3) allowed just three singles over 5.1 innings of relief and carried the FredNats lead to the finish. The Woodpeckers managed to put the tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but saw Arturo Flores, Carlos Cauro and German Ramirez strikeout in order against Rojas to end the game.

The Woodpeckers will look to even the series on Wednesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 PM. Fayetteville is projected to start RHP Nick Potter opposite Fredericksburg’s LHP Liam Sullivan.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/827269/final/wrap