Woodpeckers Surge to Fifth Straight Win on Hockey Night

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (58-52, 26-19 2nd Half) enjoyed another big offensive night and secured a fifth straight win over the Fredericksburg Nationals (67-45, 21-25 2nd Half) in an 11-4 victory with over 5,000 fans in attendance on Hockey Night at Segra Stadium. With the win Fayetteville now leads the Carolina League North Division by 2.5 games.

Logan Hughes contributed to a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to extend an early lead. The first-round pick out of Texas Tech singled home Kam Durnin and later scored on a wild pitch for the 3-0 advantage.

Adrian Ardines shut down the FredNats order the first time through with six strikeouts over three scoreless, but his start turned south in the top of the fourth. He surrendered a game-tying three-run homer to Avery Ortiz and four runs in total before leaving the game with the training staff.

Fayetteville quickly countered with three in the bottom of the fourth. Carlos Cauro tied the game with an RBI double, and Hughes capped the rally with his first career RBI triple that made it 6-4. Hughes reached base four times in the game and has a 1.227 OPS over his first five games.

Jesus Carrera (SV, 3) took over from the bullpen in the sixth inning and shut down Fredericksburg the rest of the way. The right-hander from Mexico spun four scoreless innings and was handed five more runs of support in the bottom of the eighth when Kam Durnin smashed a three-run homer to right-center for the 11-4 dagger.

Carrera has had a stellar month of August, allowing just one earned run across 13.2 total innings.

The Woodpeckers will go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon with first pitch at Segra Stadium scheduled for 5:05 PM. Fayetteville is scheduled to start RHP Jank Pichardo opposite Fredericksburg’s RHP Landon Harmon.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/827232/final/wrap