Clark Totals Career High 5 RBI in Series Clinching 10-7 Victory Versus Fayetteville

ZEBULON, N.C. - Zach Clark went 2-for-3 with a career high five RBI, Mario Feliciano drove in four while going 2-for-4, Matt Hardy earned his league leading fifth win and Clayton Andrews picked up his third save as Carolina won its second straight game 10-7 versus Fayetteville on Wednesday afternoon at Five County Stadium.

The victory also clinched a series win for the Mudcats (19-13) as it put them up two games to none in their three game home series versus Fayetteville (15-18). It also brought the Mudcats to 6-2-2 in series played this season and 3.5 games back of first in the Carolina League Southern Division first half standings.
The Woodpeckers led first in Wednesday's daytime start as they rallied for two runs and two hits in the opening frame against Carolina starter Nelson Hernandez. Bryan De La Cruz started the two run first with a double and scored a few batters later on another double from Jake Adams. Jacob Meyers also scored on the Adams' double as he walked just moments prior and the Woodpeckers had their early 2-0 lead.
Carolina quickly erased the two run deficit by scoring four times on four hits in the last of the first while taking an early 4-2 lead. The Carolina first featured a leadoff single from newly added outfielder Wes Rogers, a single from Ryan Aguilar (stretching his on base streak to 21 consecutive games) and a one-out walk for Payton Henry which then set things up for Feliciano and Clark who went back-to-back with two-run hits to give the Mudcats the lead.
Feliciano had a two-run single to right and Clark had a two-run double to left in Carolina's four run first. They both then forced in runs in the second after they were both hit by pitches with the bases loaded to force in two more Carolina runs.
Fayetteville starter Shawn Dubin allowed both run scoring hits in the first and hit Feliciano with a pitch to force in a run in the second before leaving the game. Clark followed and would go on to force in another run to bring the Carolina lead to 6-2 as he was hit by a pitch with the bags full by reliever Jacob Billingsley.
Dubin (0-2, 12.54) took the loss after allowing all six Carolina runs over the first two frames. In all, he allowed four hits, walked two and struck out three in the loss. Billingsley, meanwhile, allowed one run over two and 2/3 innings in relief before exiting the game in the fifth. Billingsley also struck out five, walked one and allowed just one hit in his appearance.
Carolina had a 6-2 lead after two, but the Woodpeckers came back with one in the third and two in the fourth against Hernandez while cutting the lead down to one after four. Hernandez allowed a run scoring hit to Seth Beer in the third and a two-run home run to De La Cruz in the fourth before leaving the game.
Hernandez pitched into the fourth, but ended up allowing five runs on eight hits over three and 2/3 innings while finishing without a decision. He also walked two and struck out three before Hardy (5-0, 3.86) took over for him in the fourth. The Mudcats, however, did win for the seventh time in a game started by Hernandez this season after scoring four more runs the rest of the way while taking game two of the series.
Hardy (5-0, 3.86) eventually took over for Hernandez in the fourth and went on to work through two and 1/3 scoreless while striking out one and improving to 5-0 on the season. Hardy also faced the minimum as he recorded seven straight outs over his two plus inning outing.
Devin Hairston later came through with a two-out RBI single in the fifth and Clark struck again with a two-run single in the sixth to put the Mudcats up 9-5. Clark's single was his second two-run hit of the game and brought across his fourth and fifth RBIs of the Wednesday matinee. Clark finished the game 2-for-3 with a run, a double, a hit by pitch and a career best 5 RBI for Carolina.
Fayetteville bounced back with a two-run home run from Adams in the seventh off reliever Michael Petersen, but Feliciano struck again by following a Henry triple with a RBI single to left to drive in Carolina's tenth and final run of the game. 
Feliciano went 2-for-4 with four RBI in the series clinching win for Carolina. Henry was 2-for-4 with two runs and a triple, Aguilar went 1-for-3 with three runs and Rogers went 1-for-4 with two runs in his debut.
Adams led the way for Fayetteville by going 2-for-4 with four RBI and a two-run homer. De La Cruz also homered and went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
Andrews (S, 3) worked the final two innings for the Mudcats and earned the save after holding the Woodpeckers without a run over the last six outs. He also finished with a walk and three strikeouts.
UP NEXT: The Mudcats will play as the Carolina "Micro Brews" when they wrap up their three game home series versus Fayetteville on Thursday night at Five County Stadium. The Micro Brews will be looking for their first home sweep of the season as they send RHP Matt Smith (1-2, 3.68) to the mound for the finale start. Thursday's, Thirsty Thursday, game will additionally feature at souvenir plastic beer stein giveaway for the first 1,200 fans ages 21 and older through the Five County Stadium gates. The game will air live on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio. It will also stream in live HD video via paid subscription on MiLB.tv.
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