The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (41-41, 9-8) took on the Wilson Warbirds (45-28, 9-8) on Wednesday afternoon at Wilson Ballpark. Jagger Beck was on the mound for Fayetteville against Jacob Morrison of Wilson.
At the top of the first inning, Fayetteville had a runner on second base when Waner Luciano hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Kevin Alvarez to put the Woodpeckers up 1-0. With two outs, a flyout by Josh Wakefield ended the inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Wilson had a runner on third base with one out when Juan Ortuno hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Brady Ebel, and the game was tied 1-1. With two outs, a groundout by José Anderson ended the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, Wilson had a runner on second base with two outs when Handelfry Encarnacion hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Rylan Mills to give the Warbirds a 2-1 lead. Beck struck out Brady Ebel to end the inning.
At the top of the fourth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on first base with one out when Josh Wakefield hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Waner Luciano, and the game was tied 2-2. With two outs, a groundout by German Ramirez ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Fayetteville starter Jagger Beck was replaced by Ryan Verdugo after putting a runner on first base with two outs. Juan Ortuno hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Brady Ebel to give the Warbirds a 3-2 lead. Later, Alexander Frias reached first base on a fielding error by second baseman Waner Luciano, scoring Juan Ortuno for a 4-2 lead. A groundout by Juan Martinez ended the inning. Jagger Beck went 4.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs, two walks, and one strikeout, throwing 80 pitches, of which 50 were strikes.
Moving to the bottom of the seventh inning, Wilson had the bases loaded with one out when Alexander Frias grounded into a forceout at second base, scoring Handelfry Encarnacion for a 5-2 lead. With two outs, Brady Ebel was caught stealing home plate, and the inning was over.
At the top of the eighth inning, Fayetteville third baseman Xavier Neyens hit a solo home run to left-center field, cutting the deficit to 5-3. It was his 14th home run of the season.
Later in the inning, Fayetteville had the bases loaded when Kenni Gomez grounded out to first baseman Luis Lameda, scoring Waner Luciano, and it was now 5-4. German Ramirez popped out to second baseman Filippo Di Turi for the final out of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Wilson designated hitter Juan Martinez hit a solo home run to right field for a 6-4 lead. It was his first home run of the season. With the bases loaded and two outs, Brady Ebel grounded out to second baseman Waner Luciano for the final out of the inning. Ryan Verdugo went 3.1 innings, allowing four hits, three runs, four walks, and three strikeouts, throwing 82 pitches, of which 41 were strikes.
The Woodpeckers went on to lose to the Warbirds 6-4. It was their second straight loss. Fayetteville finished the game with seven hits, committed one error, went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and left seven men on base. Waner Luciano went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and an RBI. The loss went to Fayetteville starter Jagger Beck (2-3), while the win went to Wilson pitcher Enderson Mercado (4-5), and Joshua Quezada earned his first save of the season.
The Woodpeckers and Warbirds play game three on Thursday at 7:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Fayetteville have yet to name a starter, while Andrew Healy (3-0, 5.57 ERA) will be on the mound for Wilson.
