Down East Beaten Up in Loss to Fayetteville
Fayetteville, N.C. – The Down East Wood Ducks pitching staff allowed four homeruns to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in a 10-3 loss, Wednesday night. Luisangel Acuña earned the Suddenlink Player of the Game after going two-for-three with a homerun and two RBI.
For the second game in-a-row Down East (31-24) had no problem scoring first in the top of the first against Woodpeckers’ starter Fabricio Reina (W, 1-2). Keithron Moss led off the game, reaching third on a fielding error by Fayetteville first baseman, Yeuris Ramirez. Acuña hit a sac fly to score Moss for the 1-0 lead.
Fayetteville (23-32) responded with two runs in the first and second innings to take a 4-1 lead and they never looked back.
The Wood Ducks cut into the deficit with a run in the top of the fourth. Acuña blasted his sixth homerun of the season to bring the score to 4-2.
The Woodpeckers had another answer for Wyatt Sparks (L, 1-2) with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to bring the score to 7-2.
Down East plated one more run in the top of the sixth against Fayetteville reliever Jayson Schroeder. Jayce Easley walked and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Moss walked to put runners at the corners. After a pop out, Moss was thrown out trying to steal second and Dustin Harris doubled to score Easley to make the score 7-3.
Fayetteville continued to pad their lead in the bottom of the eighth. After two quick outs, Fayetteville plated three more runs to take a 10-3 lead.
Sparks (1-2) took the loss after allowing seven runs, three homeruns, on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Joshua Javier pitched one perfect inning with two strikeouts. Nick Lockhart pitched one scoreless inning, allowing one hit. Spencer Mraz pitched two innings, allowing three runs on two hits with four strikeouts.
The series continues tomorrow with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. RHP Abdiel Mendoza (1-3, 4.89) gets the start for Down East and Fayetteville will counter with LHP Julio Robaina (2-0, 6.86)
