After rain canceled Friday night’s game, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (29-32) played game four on Saturday night against the Salem RidgeYaks (24-37) from Carilion Clinic Field. Javier Perez was on the mound for Fayetteville against Brady Tygart of Salem.
At the top of the second inning, Fayetteville had runners on the corners when Carlos Cauro stole second base, and Camilo Diaz stole home plate to put the Woodpeckers up 1-0. With two outs, Kenni Gomez was called out on strikes.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Fayetteville first baseman Carlos Cauro hit a double to center field. With one out, catcher Yosweld Vasquez hit an RBI double to center field, scoring Cauro for a 2-0 lead. With two outs, Xavier Neyens struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Fayetteville pitcher Javier Perez pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two strikeouts, throwing 36 pitches, of which 28 were strikes. Charlie Weber pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the fifth inning. Salem had a runner on second base when Anderson Fermin hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Andruw Musett, and the RidgeYaks cut the deficit to 2-1. With two outs, a lineout by D’Angelo Ortiz ended the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Charlie Weber loaded the bases with nobody out. Salem second baseman Ilan Fernandez grounded into a forceout at second base. Avinson Pinto scored, and a throwing error by Fayetteville second baseman Camilo Diaz scored Andruw Musett to give the RidgeYaks a 3-2 lead. With two outs, Weber struck out D’Angelo Ortiz, and the inning was over. Charlie Weber went three innings, allowing five hits, three runs, one walk, and one strikeout, throwing 63 pitches, of which 37 were strikes.
At the top of the eighth inning, Fayetteville left fielder Anthony Huezo hit a solo home run to right-center field, and the game was tied 3-3. It was Huezo’s 10th home run of the season. Xavier Neyens worked a four-pitch walk, and Kevin Alvarez hit a single to move Neyens to third base. With one out, Hector Salas grounded into a forceout at second base, scoring Neyens to give the Woodpeckers a 4-3 lead.
Jesus Carrera pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the eighth inning. Salem had a runner on first base with one out when Adonys Guzman hit a double off the wall in left field. Anthony Huezo threw a dart to third baseman Waner Luciano to get Kleyver Salazar out at third base. A groundout by Skylar King ended the inning.
Jesus Carrera went two innings, three hits, one walk, and two strikeouts, to get the final six outs of the game. The Woodpeckers held on to beat the RidgeYaks 4-3 for their fourth straight win, and they also take the series with one game left to play.
Fayetteville finished the night with six hits, committed one error, went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base. The win went to Fayetteville pitcher Charlie Weber (2-1), while Jesus Carrera earned his second save of the season, and the loss went to Salem pitcher Adam Bates (1-3).
The Woodpeckers and RidgeYaks wrap up the series on Sunday at 4:05 pm on the MLB App. Fayetteville have yet to name a starter, while Cole Tolbert (1-0, 3.07 ERA) will be on the mound for Salem.
