Fayetteville Falls in Third Straight to Kannapolis

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (52-65, 23-28) fell behind in the middle innings on Saturday night to the Kanapolis Cannonballers (63-56, 22-31 2nd Half) and never recovered in a 5-1 defeat at Segra Stadium.

Starters Ricardo Brizuela (W, 3-0) and Luis Rodriguez (L, 1-1) kept the game without a hit entering the third inning. Sam Antonacci broke up the drought with a two-out double and scored on a George Wolkow single for a 1-0 Ballers advantage.

The Woodpeckers responded in the fourth with a single from Lucas Spence and double coming from Joseph Sullivan to put two runners in scoring position. Caden Powell followed with a grounder to second that scored Spence from third and tied the game at 1-1.

Brizuela shut down the Woodpeckers lineup for the remainder of his quality start, allowing just the one run on three hits over six innings.

Kannapolis took the outright lead in the top of the fifth with an RBI single from Alec Makarewicz. Three more Cannon Ballers scored in the top of the sixth on a Nathan Archer RBI double, Sam Anntonacci RBI single, and errant throw down to third on Antonacci’s steal attempt that brought him home.

Aaron Combs and Hale Sims led the bullpen effort with three scoreless in relief. Combs worked out of a one-out bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh by striking out Alejandro Nunez and drawing an inning-ending flyout from Spence.

Fayetteville reliever Abel Mercedes made some history in the top of the eighth by striking out four hitters in an inning. Drake Logan and Lyle Miller-Green fanned for the first two outs, then Nathan Archer reached base on a dropped third strike to extend the inning. Mercedes walked Antonacci before striking out George Wolkow to cap the rare four punch out inning.

The six-game series concludes on Sunday night with first pitch scheduled for 5:05 PM. The Woodpeckers are projected to start RHP Bryce Mayer for his professional debut and Kannapolis will counter with RHP Tanner McDougal. Mayer was selected by the Astros in the 16th round of the 2024 MLB Draft.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/753956/final/box