Ninth Inning Comeback Stalls in Loss to FredNats

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (18-23) ninth inning comeback fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Fredericksburg Nationals (29-12) Wednesday night inside SEGRA Stadium. Following the loss the first place FredNats lead the series 2-0.

After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Nationals got things rolling in the top of the second. Juan Cruz brought two runs home with an RBI double that was hit sharply to center field off Nick Potter (L, 0-1) for the 2-0 lead. Potter worked into the fourth inning and tied a season high with five strikeouts.

The Woodpeckers cut into the Nationals lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with a Hector Salas sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Josh Wakefield to make it 2-1 FredNats.

Kellan Oakes came out of the Fayetteville bullpen in the sixth inning and put up impressive numbers across the board, with the only slip up being a solo homer in the sixth from Cruz, who drove in all three of the Nationals runs. The 9^th round pick out of Oregon State finished with 4.0 innings and allowed just one run on one hit while issuing zero walks and striking out a career-high eight batters.

The Woodpeckers looked to pull off some magic in the bottom of the ninth and scratched a run across with a single from Arturo Flores into left field that scored Kevin Alvarez making it 3-2. Jacob Roberts in the closer roll still managed to lock up the save, striking out Hector Salas to strand the tying run on third.

The Woodpeckers will look to bounce back tomorrow night for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch. Fayetteville will roll out RHP Javier Perez who’s coming off an eighth inning scoreless pitching performance on the road. Fredericksburg will counter with RHP Alexander Meckley.