Mudcats lose nail-biter 1-0 as Wood Ducks walk-off

KINSTON, N.C. - The Mudcats were held scoreless and managed just two hits in a 1-0 walk off loss to the Wood Ducks at Grainger Stadium on Tuesday night. Evan Van Hoosier singled and scored the game winning in the ninth for Down East in the series tying victory.

Wes Benjamin started for the Wood Ducks (50-71, 26-25) and took a no-hitter into the sixth before giving up a one-out double to Jose Cuas. He also struck out seven over seven and 2/3 scoreless innings, but finished with a no-decision as the game was locked up at 0-0 all throughout his strong outing. 
Reliever Scott Williams followed and eventually earned the win after holding the Mudcats (58-62, 22-30) scoreless over the final inning and a 1/3 out of the bullpen. Williams (2-0, 0.76) struck out two and faced five over the final two frames while carrying the 0-0 tie into the last of the ninth.
The Wood Ducks broke the scoreless tie and walked off with the victory when Luis La O brought in Van Hoosier from third with a sacrifice fly to right. Monte Harrison caught the ball in medium deep right and his throw home reached catcher Cooper Hummel on the fly, but Van Hoosier had already slid across safely just moments before the throw was caught to win the game.
Reliever Wuilder Rodriguez allowed the game winner across in the ninth and took the loss for Carolina. Van Hoosier started the final frame with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Josh Altmann. With one out in the inning, Rodriguez then lost a wild pitch to allow Van Hoosier to third and walked Matt Lipka to put runners at first and third for Down East. La O then followed with a sac fly to right and Van Hoosier scored from third to win the game.
Rodriguez (0-1, 1.46) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing the winning across in the ninth. He pitched through an inning and 2/3 and allowed a run on one hit and two walks.
Marcos Diplan started for Carolina and worked through six scoreless frames with four hits allowed, five walks and two strikeouts. Parker Berberet followed Diplan and left two men on base while pitching through a scoreless seventh.
The Wood Ducks evened the series at 1-1 with the game two victory and did so while going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 men on base. 
Diplan stranded three men on base in the fifth and left two on in the sixth and seventh while working through his six scoreless frames. He also held the Wood Ducks without a hit over the first three innings.
Carolina had just two hits in the loss and stranded only four men on base. They also went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, with only Erceg and Harrison reaching beyond first in the loss. Erceg advanced as far as third in the seventh, but was left there as the Mudcats did not score in the game.
UP NEXT: The Mudcats and Wood Ducks will continue the series on Wednesday night with game three of the four game set scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Grainger Stadium in Kinston. The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio.
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