Woodies Claim Series from Astros and Move Into Second-Half Contention

KINSTON, NC - With a jump-start to the offense, the Wood Ducks (28-28, 52-73) claimed game two over the Astros (33-22, 70-55) with a 5-1 final. All five runs were scored in the first three innings, highlighted by LeDarious Clark's home run - his eleventh of the year.

Down East hung a three-run first with two outs on Buies Creek. The rally began with runners on the corners for Evan Van Hoosier at the plate. He hit a hard-grounder that was snagged on a dive at short by Alex DeGoti, but he threw the ball away toward second. The error allowed Yanio Perez to score from second, along with Josh Morgan who scored from third.
Two batters later, Ti'Quan Forbes added a single to bring home Van Hoosier and push the Woodies to a 3-0 lead. Brett Martin responded with a scoreless bottom of the second. The lefty struck out seven batters over his five-and-a-third innings of work. He claimed his second win of the season and snapped a seven-start losing streak.
In the second, Clark began the inning with a double - his 24th of the year to lead the team. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Lipka to mark the score at 4-0. Clark wasn't done, as in the fourth he lined his homer to left field to reclaim the team lead in homers.
From the bullpen, Jacob Shortslef and Jeffrey Springs combined to strike out three without allowing a hit over the final three-plus innings. Springs also increased his strikeout total to 134 - still leading the southern division.
Now 5.5 games back of the Astros with five head-to-head matchups remaining, the Wood Ducks can assert themselves in the second-half race on Sunday with a sweep.
The Woodies will have Kyle Cody on the mound (1-0, 3.86) against Carson LaRue (0-1, 6.00) at 2:00 p.m. Down East looks to claim its eighth win over Buies Creek in its last ten tries and for the first sweep of the season.
You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.