Mudcats Walk-Off Wood Ducks With Walk-Off Walk

Down East 0 @ Carolina 1

July 23, 2021 | Venue : Five County Stadium | First pitch : 7:02 PM | Att : 3,268 | T : 2:35

LISTEN: Post-Game Interview with Manager Joe Aryault

ZEBULON – Felix Valerio forced in the winning run with a bases loaded walk in the ninth as the Mudcats walked-off the visiting Wood Ducks 1-0 on Friday night at Five County Stadium. Keegan McCarville earned the win with two scoreless innings in his Carolina debut. Starter Nick Belzer finished without a decision, but took a no-hitter into the seventh and totaled a career high eight strikeouts.

The Mudcats (43-27) totaled four hits in the game, including back-to-back one-out hits from Gabe Holt and Freddy Zamora in the ninth off reliever Spencer Mraz. Holt’s was a single and Zamora’s was a double that pushed Holt to third. The Wood Ducks (38-32) then intentionally walked Ashton McGee before seeing Mraz (2-3, 4.78) walk Valerio with the bags full to force Holt in from third.

Zamora finished the game going 2-for-4 with a double and Holt went 1-for-4 with the game-winning run. Valerio was held without a hit, but his RBI resulted in the only run of the night at Carolina won its lowest scoring home game of the season.

The walk-off victory was Carolina’s third of the season and their second against the Wood Ducks. The win was additionally Carolina’s third straight and lifted them to a 3-2 series lead and 5.0 games ahead of Down East in the Low-A East Central standings.

McCarville (1-0, 0.00) earned the victory after holding the Wood Ducks scoreless in both the eighth and ninth innings. He pitched around a hit in the eighth, struck out two in the ninth and punched out three overall while facing seven over two innings pitched.

Belzer started and finished without a decision for the first time this season after leaving the scoreless game before the eighth. In all, Belzer totaled eight strikeouts, walked two and allowed just one hit while pitching through the seventh for the third straight time. He also reached a season high 96 pitches (59 strikes), picked off a runner and induced seven groundouts versus one flyout in his brilliant outing.

Mason Englert started for Down East and pitched through four scoreless with five strikeouts. Reliever Mason Cole pitched through four scoreless as well and struck out six.

Joey Wiemer tripled in the fifth while extending his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games. Wiemer went 1-for-3 overall in the game, but was also caught stealing once. Holt was intentionally walked in the ninth to set up Valerio’s game winning at bat. He also made several solid defensive plays, including a diving stop at third in the fifth that kept Belzer’s no hitter in tact. That no-hitter was later broken up in the seventh when Luisangel Acuna started the inning with a single to right.

The series will continue on Saturday evening with game six of the seven game series beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Five County Stadium. Carolina leads the series 3-2 with two more games left to play on Saturday and Sunday in Zebulon.

TOP PERFORMERS - BATTERS:

Acuna, DH (Down East): 1-for-4, 0 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Inoa, 1B (Down East): 1-for-3, 0 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Zamora, SS (Carolina): 2-for-4, 0 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Holt, 2B (Carolina): 1-for-4, 1 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Valerio, F, DH (Carolina): 0-for-3, 0 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 RBI

Wiemer, CF (Carolina): 1-for-3, 0 R, 0 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 0 RBI

TOP PERFORMERS - PITCHERS:

Belzer (Carolina): 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO

McCarville (W, 1-0) (Carolina): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO

Englert (Down East): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

Cole (Down East): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

SCORING:

Mudcats 9th (Mudcats 1, Wood Ducks 0) -- Pitcher Change: Spencer Mraz replaces Mason Cole. Noah Campbell flies out to Angel Aponte. Gabe Holt singles to right-center field. Freddy Zamora doubles to right-center field, Gabe Holt to 3rd. Spencer Mraz intentionally walks Ashton McGee. Felix Valerio walks, Gabe Holt scores; Freddy Zamora to 3rd; Ashton McGee to 2nd.

(1 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 3 LOB)