Wood Ducks bounce back to take series finale from Woodpeckers

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (13-8) shook off a tough start Sunday afternoon at Segra Stadium, but a five-run fourth inning still wasn’t enough as they fell to the Down East Wood Ducks (10-11), 8-5.

Fayetteville still claims the series victory over the Wood Ducks, winning four out of six games.

Down East jumped out to an early 3-0 over the first three frames. Erick Alvarez singled home a pair of runs in the first inning against Woodpeckers starter Ethan Pecko before Marcos Torres tacked on another with a third-inning sacrifice fly.

After struggling to solve Wood Ducks starter Josh Trentadue early on, Fayetteville got to the lefty in the bottom of the fourth. Oliver Carrillo and Juan Santander started the rally with back-to-back singles before Yamal Encarnacion walked to load the bases. Alejandro Nunez then laced a base hit into center to get the Woodpeckers on the board. The next batter was Xavier Casserilla, who ripped a single up the middle to score both Santander and Encarnacion to tie the game 3-3.

Will Bush kept the line moving moments later with an RBI single of his own that gave Fayetteville the 4-3 lead and chased Trentadue from the game. Luke Savage came on in relief and finally got the first out of the fourth, but Nehomar Ochoa immediately followed with a base hit to right to cap off the five-run frame.

The Wood Ducks wasted no time responding, however. In the top of the fifth against Woodpeckers reliever Jackson Nezuh (L, 0-2), Alvarez continued his big day with an RBI double to cut the deficit to one. Later, he came in on a Tommy Specht single to level the score once again.

n the sixth, Alvarez found himself in another RBI situation and he capitalized with a sacrifice fly to give him four on the evening and push Down East back ahead, 6-5. The Wood Ducks added another to their lead an inning later on a JoJo Blackmon RBI single before closing the scoring in the ninth on a Blackmon sac fly.

Down East reliever Kolton Curtis (W, 1-1) stabilized things for his team out of the bullpen, holding Fayetteville scoreless over the final five innings.

The Wood Ducks continue their road trip with a six-day series with Fredericksburg that starts Tuesday.

Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/754003/final/box

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