Fayetteville Rides Blubaugh Gem to Second Straight Victory

Kinston, NC - The lights were not too bright for Fayetteville Woodpeckers starting pitcher AJ Blubaugh in his first Single-A start Thursday night.

Blubaugh (W, 1-1) was nearly unhittable, going five innings allowing just a single run on two hits with no walks and eight strikeouts as the Woodpeckers (51-71, 20-37) won their second game in a row over the Down East Wood Ducks by a final score of 7-4 at Grainger Stadium.

Fayetteville fell behind in the early going when Blubaugh surrendered his lone run in the bottom of the second inning on a Miguel Villarroel RBI double. However, the Woodpeckers answered right back in the top of the third. Tommy Sacco, who hit a walk-off home run Sunday afternoon against Charleston, belted a two-run home run to right to push Fayetteville ahead, 2-1.

The Woodpeckers entered the fifth inning looking for insurance after chasing Down East starter Emilano Teodo (L, 3-5) from the ballgame in the fourth. They quickly put the pressure on by loading the bases with no outs and Tyler Whitaker lifted a fly ball to left that was deep enough to bring home Sacco. Ryan Clifford then walked to reload the bases before Jackson Loftin and Zach Cole were both issued free passes by Jose Corniell to tack on two more runs. Corniell then lost control of a pitch, allowing Clifford to trot home and extend the lead to 6-1.

Nic Swanson came in for the sixth for Fayetteville and held the Wood Ducks scoreless in his first inning of work. He then ran into some trouble in the seventh when Tucker Mitchell singled in Villarroel with no outs. An Efrenyer Narvaez fly out brough in JoJo Blackmon, but Woodpeckers outfielder Jacob Melton threw back to first base and doubled off Mitchell to turn a double play. Swanson gave up a base hit but was able to record the final out and escape the jam with his team still in front, 6-3.

In the ninth, Whitaker swung the momentum back in the road team’s favor. He lined the third pitch he saw to deep left center for a solo home run, his 11th long ball of the year. Austin Temple (SV, 1), who got the final two outs of the eighth, returned to the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Despite giving up an RBI single to Gleider Figuereo, Temple got Cameron Cauley to ground out to end the ballgame, earning his first Single-A save in the process.

Fayetteville will look for their third straight win Friday night in Kinston. RHP Deylen Miley gets the start for the Woodpeckers while Down East counters with RHP Gavin Collyer First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 ET.

FULL BOX SCORE: https://www.milb.com/gameday/669648/final/box