Wood Ducks and Woodpeckers Split Doubleheader

Kinston, N.C. – The Down East Wood Ducks split their doubleheader with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Tuesday night. The Wood Ducks won the first game 12-11, the resumption of the suspended game on 8/1 but fell in game two, 4-2. Gavin Collyer pitched another strong outing as he tallied a career-high eight strikeouts.

The Wood Ducks and Woodpeckers resumed their suspended game in the bottom of the fourth. After a scoreless fourth and top of the fifth, the Woodies added to their 5-2 lead. *Angel Aponte *led off with a single and stole second. *Alejandro Osuna *was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second as *Brady Smith *drove in Aponte with a single to make the score 6-2. Osuna advanced to third on the play and then scored on a groundout by *Jayce Easley *to push the lead to 7-2.

Fayetteville (44-54) responded with nine runs between the seventh and eighth inning to take the 11-7 lead.

Down East (57-40) clawed their way back in the bottom of the eighth. Luisangel Acuña *led off with a solo home run (8) to cut the deficit to 11-8. *Yenci Peña walked and advanced to second on a single by Cristian Inoa. After a pop out, Peña and Inoa advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Apontedrove in both runners with a double to make the score 11-10. With Aponte on second, Osuna delivered another double to score Aponte and tie the game at 11. Xavier Valentin, pinch hitting for Smith, followed with a double to score Osuna and give the Wood Ducks the 12-11 lead.

Teodoro Ortega took the no-decision, pitching 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Destin Dotson *(W, 2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs (two earned) on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. *Theo McDowell (S, 1) pitched the final inning. He allowed one hit and one walk with three strikeouts en route to his first save of the season.

In game two, Fayetteville took the early lead with a run in the top of the first.

The Wood Ducks evened the score in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Easley walked and stole second. *Daniel Mateo *drove in Easley with a double to tie the game at one.

Down East took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Cody Freeman *walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. *Thomas Saggese walked and Osuna worked a walk to load the bases. After *Randy Florentino *popped out, *Jose Acosta *hit an single to score Freeman for the 2-1 lead. Saggese tried to score on the single but was thrown out to end the inning.

The Woodpeckers responded with two runs in the top of the fifth and one in the top of the seventh to take a 4-2 lead.

Collyer took the no-decision, pitching three innings while allowing one unearned run on two hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. *Michael Brewer *contributed two innings with two runs allowed on two hits with two strikeouts. *Mason Cole *finished off the game with two innings, allowing one run on one hit with five strikeouts.

The series continues tomorrow with first pitch set for 7:00 p.m. RHP *John Matthews *(3-4, 7.52) gets the ball for Down East and Fayetteville will counter with RHP Diosmerky Taveras (3-4, 5.50)

Fans can purchase tickets on woodducksbaseball.com, by calling the Wood Ducks Team Offices at (252) 686-5164 or in the Wood Ducks Team Offices located at Grainger Stadium (Mon-Fri – 9am - 4pm). Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook so you don’t miss anything!