Woodpeckers’ Late Rally Extinguished by GreenJackets Walk-Off in Ninth
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (47-60, 18-23) scored three runs in the eighth inning to tie the ballgame Tuesday night at SRP Park, but a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth was enough for the Augusta GreenJackets (38-67, 11-29) to walk off the
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (47-60, 18-23) scored three runs in the eighth inning to tie the ballgame Tuesday night at SRP Park, but a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth was enough for the Augusta GreenJackets (38-67, 11-29) to walk off the Woodpeckers in the series opener, 5-4. Fayetteville has now lost each of their last three contests.
Augusta took a 3-0 after four innings, striking for a pair of runs against starter Juan Nunez before grabbing a third off reliever Joan Ogando. Luis Guanipa drew first blood with an RBI single in the third. In the fourth, Colby Jones singled home another run on a blooper to right before Ogando walked Mason Guerra with the bases loaded.
The Woodpeckers’ offense woke up in the sixth inning thanks to Lucas Spence. The undrafted free agent out of SIU-Edwardsville ripped an opposite field home run to left off Garrett Baumann to get Fayetteville on the board in the sixth. It was the lone mistake for Baumann, who tossed five and two-thirds innings of one-run ball and struck out ten.
The GreenJackets made it 4-1 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Patrick Clohisy. In the top of the eighth, the Woodpeckers quickly got to Augusta reliever Albert Rivas (W, 2-1) as Will Bush laced a one-out double to left. Bush scored moments later on a Rivas wild pitch to cut the lead to two. Alejandro Nunez kept the rally going with a single to bring up Spence once again, who continued his big night with an RBI triple to center field. The next batter was the debuting Joseph Sullivan and the lefty brought Spence home on a groundout to tie the score at four.
Fayetteville had a chance to take the lead in the top of the ninth when Jancel Villarroel tripled to begin the frame. However, Cesar Hernandez grounded out before Villarroel left early on a Drew Vogel flyout to right, and the Woodpeckers’ catcher was doubled off to halt the scoring threat.
Sandy Mejia (L, 4-8) headed back to the mound in the bottom half after allowing just one run over four relief innings. Mejia induced a pair of groundouts but walked John Gil to extend the inning. Junior Garcia followed with a single to put runners at the corners with two away, chasing Mejia from the game in the process. On came Dawill Almonte, who uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Gil to score the game-winning run.
Fayetteville will look to rebound on Wednesday night as they send RHP Raimy Rodriguez to the hill. The GreenJackets meanwhile will start RHP Luis Arestigueta, who makes his Single-A debut. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.