Woodpeckers Fall to Riverdogs on Feast or Famine Night
Fayetteville, NC - It was a feast or famine night in Tuesday’s series opener as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (1-3) connected for three home runs but also struck out 20 times in a 13-5 loss to the Charleston Riverdogs (1-3) at Segra Stadium. Josh Wakefield provided the first of the homers
Fayetteville, NC - It was a feast or famine night in Tuesday’s series opener as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (1-3) connected for three home runs but also struck out 20 times in a 13-5 loss to the Charleston Riverdogs (1-3) at Segra Stadium.
Josh Wakefield provided the first of the homers with a two-run shot to right field off Aidan Cremarosa (W, 1-0). It was not only the first homer of his career, but the first overall hit for the 14th round pick out of Grand Canyon University.
Cremarosa was light out the rest of the night, striking out 12 hitters over 5.0 complete innings while the Charleston lineup built up a lead.
The Riverdogs scored seven unanswered runs between the third and fifth innings against Ryan Verdugo (L, 0-1) and Curtis Hebert. Jagger Beck steadied things from the bullpen with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, but Charleston surged once more with six runs against Jhoster Baez in the eighth inning.
Fayetteville’s two other long-balls came from Arturo Flores and Juan Sierra. Flores drilled his first of the season off the center field batter’s eye in the seventh inning, and Sierra slugged a two-run shot to left with Fayetteville down to their final out in the ninth. It was Sierra’s second straight game with a two-run homer, giving him four RBI in the last two games.
Game two of the six-game home series is scheduled for tomorrow night at 6:35 PM. The Woodpeckers are projected to start fifth round pick RHP Nick Potter in his professional debut and Charleston will roll out RHP Alex Wallace.