Woodpeckers Drop Second Half Opener to Shorebirds

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (0-1, 29-38) trailed all evening and started the second half of the season with an 8-2 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds (1-0, 24-42) inside of Segra Stadium Friday night.

Two pitches is all it took for the Shorebirds to take an early lead in the top of the first on a Thomas Sosa solo homerun off of Alonzo Tredwell (L, 1-6) to make it 1-0 early. They kept it rolling in the second inning when Luis Valdez tripled in a run on a line drive into the right field corner making it 2-0. Tredwell walked three and struck out four before being lifted from the game in the fourth inning.

Eccel Correa worked a four innings start and Carter Baumler (W, 1-0) kept Delmarva’s early shutout bid intact with a scoreless fifth.

The sixth inning was a tipping point in the game. With two outs Alejandro Nunez committed a throwing error to first base that allowed the inning to extend with Ben Petschke on the hill. Delmarva took advantage of the miscue, connecting for a pair of two-run singles afterward that jumped their lead to 6-0. All four runs were unearned against Petschke.

Fayetteville’s scoring drought ended in the bottom of the sixth on a Juan Santander RBI single that brought two runners’ home to cut into the 6-2 lead. Santander was ultimately thrown out trying to retreat back to first base, which ended the rally prematurely.

Amilcar Chirinos held the game at 6-2 with a perfect seventh and eighth inning out of the bullpen, but allowed two insurance runs to Delmarva in the top of the ninth that sealed the 8-2 final.

The series is now tied between the two ball clubs heading into Saturday night where the Woodpeckers will look to regain the series lead with a 7:05 pm start time. Projected starter for Fayetteville will be RHP Yeriel Santos and the Shorebirds will bring out RHP Braxton Bragg.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/753982/final/box