Woodpeckers Held Off by Wood Ducks Bullpen in 2-1 Defeat

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (47-57, 16-23) lost a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning on Thursday night and were unable to mount a comeback against the Down East Wood Ducks (52-53, 19-20) bullpen, falling by a slim 2-1 final at Segra Stadium.

Valente Bellozo put together his best start of the season, tossing five scoreless innings while striking out a season-high seven hitters. On top of his scoreless night, the 22-year-old faced the minimum thanks to three key plays from the defense. Maximo Actosa was thrown out at third trying for a triple in the first inning, Yenci Pena was caught stealing to end the second, and a double play was turned in the fifth before Bellozo ended his night.

The Woodpeckers scored their only run in the third shortly after Tommy Sacco led off the frame with a triple against Emiliano Teodo. With Zach Cole at the plate, Teodo uncorked a wild pitch that scored Sacco for a 1-0 lead.

Fayetteville held the lead until the top of the sixth when Miguel Ullola (L, 2-2) took over from the bullpen. Acosta tied the game 1-1 on his second double of the night and Jose Rodriguez gave Down East the lead with a slow roller in front of home plate that scored Zion Bannister from third base.

Despite allowing the two go-ahead runs in the sixth, Ullola finished his night strong, going scoreless the rest of the way and finishing with seven strikeouts over four total innings pitched.

Offensively, Fayetteville couldn’t solve the reliever trio of Dylan MacLean (W, 2-0), Alberto Mota and Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa (SV, 6). The three relievers combined to throw 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball. Tuionetoa came up with the save, stranding Collin Price on base in the ninth inning after his one-out double to end the game.

The series continues on Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm ET. Fayetteville has RHP Bryant Salgado (6-6, 4.56 ERA) scheduled to start and Down East will roll out RHP Gavin Collyer (4-3, 4.44 ERA).

FULL BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669598/final/box