Wood Ducks Survive Late Shorebirds Surge

Salisbury, M.D. – Despite a late-inning surge, the Down East Wood Ducks held on to defeat the Delmarva Shorebirds, 8-4 Friday night. Jayce Easley *and *Thomas Saggese led the way with two RBIs each.

Down East (45-36) opened the scoring for the second night in-a-row. In the top of the third, Brady Smith singled to start the inning, for his first hit with the Wood Ducks. With one out, Easleyhomered (1) to put the Woodies ahead 2-0.

The Wood Ducks added to their lead in the top of the fifth. Smith led off the inning with a single, his second hit of the game. After a flyout and mound visit, Easley walked to put runners on first and second. Daniel Mateo singled to score Smith, as Down East took the 3-0 lead and Easley moved to second.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Angel Aponte *singled and stole second (11). *Keithron Moss followed with a double to score Aponte for the 4-0 lead. Moss then stole third (10) and scored on a sac fly by Smith to increase the Down East lead to 5-0.

Delmarva (45-36) was held scoreless through six innings and broke through with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Trevor Kehe tripled and scored on a throwing error by Moss to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The Wood Ducks responded with a run in the top of the ninth. With one out, Easley and Mateo hit back-to-back singles. Luisangel Acuña singled and Easley beat the throw home to increase the lead to 6-1. Mateo and Acuña advanced to second and third on the throw home, and with two outs Saggese plated both runners with a two-run triple for the 8-1 lead.

Eudrys Mañon pitched a scoreless eighth, but worked himself out of trouble to secure the win for Down East. Delmarva plated three runs to cut the lead to 8-4, but Mañon was able to bear down and avoid further damage.

*Mason Englert *(W, 5-3) earned the win as he spun five scoreless innings, allowing one hit with one walk and striking out five. *Nick Yoder *pitched two innings, allowing one run on three hits with one walk. Mañon pitched two innings, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks and one strikeout.

The series continues tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. RHP *Nick Krauth *(3-5, 4.31) gets the ball for the Wood Ducks and Delmarva will counter with RHP Griffin McLarty (1-6, 4.75).

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!