Los Guerreros Lose Third Straight to Cannon Ballers

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (27-32) cut within a single run on Friday night but were unable to rally in the ninth inning of a 2-1 defeat to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (25-34) at Segra Stadium. The action was halted due to a rain delay after the end of two innings.

Despite the 35-minute delay, Bryant Salgado returned to the mound and tossed a scoreless third inning. In the fourth, Colby Smelley and Colson Montgomery started things with a pair of singles and DJ Gladney loaded the bases with a walk. Samil Polanco followed with a grounder to shortstop that scored Smelly from third. The Woodpeckers infield tried to turn a double-play but the throw to first base short hopped Mascai, bounced away, and Montgomery scored on a close play at the plate for a 2-0 lead.

On the Kannapolis pitching front, Norge Vera, Adisyn Coffey (W, 3-2) and Haylen Green combined to throw six scoreless innings and hold the Woodpeckers to one hit, a Rainer Rivas single in the third.

Miguel Ullola entered the game in the sixth inning and held the 2-zip game in check, firing three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out six.

With Chase Plymell (SV, 3) on the mound in the eighth, Tyler Whitaker drove a leadoff double to right-center field to reach scoring position. Two batters later, Victor Mascai brought him home with an RBI double off the left-center field wall.

Facing their final chances in the bottom of the ninth, Plymell recorded two outs on just two pitches and struck out Logan Cerny to lock up the three-inning save.

The series will continue on Saturday night with a doubleheader beginning at 4:05 pm EST

FULL BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669254/final/box