Woodpeckers Drop Series to Down East

Kinston, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (43-52, 14-15) never recovered on Saturday night after allowing three early runs to the Down East Wood Ducks (48-45, 13-15) over the first three innings, dropping the contest and the road series with a 3-2 final.

Lefty Colby Langford (L, 4-2) put together his second straight 5.0 inning appearance and struck out a career-high eight hitters. He allowed all three of Down East's runs on a second-inning RBI single to Estaban Mejia and two-run homer in the third from Beycker Barroso.

Fayetteville nearly erased the deficit when trailing 3-0 in the top of the fifth. Xavier Casserilla and Yamal Encarnacion struck for back-to-back RBI single to cut the game to 3-2 and chase starter David Davalillo from the mound. Bryan Magdaleno (W, 6-3) took over and escaped a bases-loaded jam, striking out both Kenni Gomez and Jancel Villarroel to kill the threat.

The Woodpeckers lineup only managed to scatter three singles against the Down East bullpen over the rest of the game. Adonis Villavicencio (SV, 3) worked around an Alberto Hernandez single in a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

Despite the result, eight of nine Fayetteville batters tallied at least one hit in the game and the Woodpeckers doubled up Down East in the hit column.

Fayetteville will try to salvage the series finale on Sunday with first pitch at Grainger Stadium scheduled for 1:00 PM. The Woodpeckers are off on Monday before returning to Segra Stadium Tuesday night for the start of a six-game series against the Columbia Fireflies.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/754034/final/box