Wood Ducks Shine in All Facets Over Mudcats

ZEBULON, NC - A rain delay could not damper the Wood Duck (10-10, 34-53) offense in a 6-3 victory over the Mudcats (10-11, 46-43) on Thursday night. Down East received multi-RBI nights from Carlos Garay and Matt Lipka to fuel the effort.

The pitching was put into a bind early as the 55 minute rain delay washed starter Wes Benjamin after two scoreless innings. Steven Bruce entered in the third and impressed through four and a third of scoreless relief with five strikeouts.
Before the rain came the Woodies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third thanks to an RBI single from Garay to score Lipka with two outs. Lipka would finish the night with three hits - tying his season-high.
Between innings, a heavy thunderstorm warning appeared on the radar and the tarp was placed on the field ahead of the heavy rainfall. The game resumed with Bruce on the mound in the bottom of the third and he proceeded to strike out the side.
Garay and Lipka would combine again in the fifth with the bases loaded and one out. Garay pulled a grounder to the left side and a diving stop by shortstop Luis Aviles Jr. robbed Garay of a hit. Lipka did score from third to pad the lead to 2-0.
Lipka added his own power stroke in the sixth inning with two outs. He fouled the first pitch of his at-bat off with home run distance down the left field line. Then on the next pitch, he launched one to deep left-center to collect his sixth homer of the year.
Bruce exited with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh for Peter Fairbanks. He induced an inning-ending double play to preserve the shutout for the time being.
Carolina scored three times though in the eighth, thanks to an RBI single by Jake Gatewood and a two-run homer by Lucas Erceg. Suddenly the score was 5-3 headed to the ninth.
Down East and Josh Morgan answered the call for insurance with a one-out double. He would score on Evan Van Hoosier's grounder to beat out a double play.
Adam Choplick had the ninth for his third save of the year and proceeded to strikeout the side - all swinging. The win snaps the four-game losing streak and slots the Woodies back at .500 for the second half.
Game three of the series is at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night. Richelson Peña (5-4, 2.90) will make his 14th start of the year against lefty Kodi Medeiros (3-6, 4.96). You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sorts/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio App.