The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (43-50, 12-15 second half) never recovered after surrendering seven runs over the first four innings of Friday night’s game, falling 9-6 to the Down East Wood Ducks (50-39, 13-15 second half) at Segra Stadium.
The only lead of the night was a brief 2-1 advantage that was supplied on a two-run homer by Leosdany Molina off Joseph Montalvo in the bottom of the second inning. The shot onto the left-field berm was the fifth homer of the season and third over the past week for Molina.
Down East broke the game open come the top of the third. Carlos Espinosa (L, 1-2) allowed three runs in the third and three more in the fourth, serving up a two-run homer to JoJo Blackmon that made it a game-high 7-2 lead for the Wood Ducks.
Fayetteville chipped away at the deficit all night but never found a way to come all the way back. Luis Encarnacion and Tyler Whitaker connected for consecutive RBI singles in the fifth, Encarnacion doubled in another run in the seventh, and Sandro Gaston lined an RBI hit in the eighth that capped the scoring 9-6.
Encarnacion finished the night 3-for-5 with two RBI and took over the team lead in hits with 70 on the season.
The six-game series continues Saturday night with the first pitch scheduled for 5:05 p.m.
The Woodpeckers are projected to start left-hander Trey Dombroski (4-7, 3.30 ERA); Down East will roll out right-hander Brock Porter (0-2, 2.55 ERA).
Saturday is Star Wars Night at Segra Stadium, and the first 1,000 fans through the gatx ses will receive a T-shirt commemorating former Woodpeckers who have been called to the big leagues.
The Houston Astros 2022 World Series trophy will also be in town and will available for photos through the seventh inning of the game. Single-game tickets are available here at https://www.milb.com/fayetteville/tickets/single-game-tickets.
Box score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/727977/final/box
