Down East Takes Advantage of Lynchburg's Mistakes in Home Finale

KINSTON, NC - A gritty outing from Kyle Cody and an opportunistic offense helped the Wood Ducks (32-31, 56-56) claim the series over the Hillcats (40-23, 80-52) with a 5-1 final. Yanio Perez's two-run single in the eighth inning created separation for the final inning of play.

Despite out-hitting the Wood Ducks nine-to-six, the Hillcats left 12 runners on base on Sunday afternoon. Kyle Cody managed to strand six in his first three innings with the only run allowed in the form of a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Down East would respond in the fifth without needed a hit. LeDarious Clark hit a popup to left field that Connor Marabell dropped. Clark made it to second on the error. On the next pitch, Clark attempted to steal third and Sicnarf Loopstok's throw went into left field, which brought home an unearned, game-tying run.
Cody exited after six innings and faced the minimum in each of his last two frames. Jeffrey Springs entered for the seventh and impressed. When his work was done, Springs had six strikeouts in his two innings. The southpaw also had a two-strike count on all nine batters he faced.
The Woodies gave Springs the lead in the bottom of the seventh on an error from third baseman Gavin Collins. Luis La O scored from third on the Ti'Quan Forbes grounder that was misplayed for the fifth error in the last two games for Lynchburg.
For good measure, the Woodies poured it on in the eighth with Chuck Moorman scoring on a wild pitch before Perez's single up the middle. In the ninth, Adam Choplick got two outs without allowing a run despite two errors from the Woodies' defense.
Scott Williams was called upon for the final out and did so with a flyout to left field. The single out marks 24 straight scoreless innings for the right-hander.
The Wood Ducks did not make up any ground on the Astros because Buies Creek was also victorious in Winston-Salem on Sunday. Still 3.5 games back, Down East has seven games remaining in the half.
Monday is the final off day of the regular season for the league. Then on Tuesday the Wood Ducks make their only trip to Wilmington for a three-game series with the Blue Rocks. You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.