The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (42-41, 10-8) played the Wilson Warbirds (45-29, 9-9) in game four on Thursday night at Wilson Ballpark. Nick Potter was on the mound for Fayetteville against Andrew Healy of Wilson.
At the top of the second inning, Fayetteville third baseman Waner Luciano hit a single to right field and stole second base. After Arturo Flores walked, Carlos Cauro moved both runners up a base with a groundout to catcher Kevin Garcia. Second baseman Hector Salas brought Luciano home with a sacrifice fly to left field, putting the Woodpeckers up 1-0. Reylin Perez was called out on strikes, and the inning was over.
Moving to the bottom of the fourth inning, Wilson right fielder Jose Anderson hit a solo home run off the scoreboard at left field, tying the game 1-1. It was his 18th home run of the season. With one out, Filippo Di Turi grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nick Potter put a runner on first base with two outs when he was replaced by Ryan Mathiesen. Mathiesen loaded the bases with two outs before striking out Jose Anderson to end the inning. Nick Potter went 4.2 innings, allowing five hits, one run, one walk, and seven strikeouts, throwing 73 pitches, of which 44 were strikes. Mathiesen allowed a hit, a walk, and struck out, throwing 15 pitches, of which nine were strikes.
At the top of the sixth inning, Xavier Neyens hit a single with one out, and Kevin Alvarez worked a four-pitch walk. Fayetteville catcher Arturo Flores hit Carlos Carra’s sinker for a three-run home run to right field to give the Woodpeckers a 4-1 lead. It was his 13th home run of the season. Carlos Cauro hit a single and Hector Salas worked a four-pitch walk before Reylin Perez hit a two-run RBI single to right field, scoring Cauro and Salas for a 6-1 lead.
German Ramirez followed up by hitting an RBI single to center field, scoring Perez for a 7-1 lead. Josh Wakefield hit a single before Xavier Neyens hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Ramirez for an 8-1 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Kevin Alvarez ended the inning.
Adam Shoemaker pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the sixth inning. Moving to the top of the eighth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on third base when Kevin Alvarez hit an RBI double to center field, scoring German Ramirez for a 9-1 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Arturo Flores ended the inning.
At the top of the ninth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on second base when German Ramirez hit a two-run home run to left field for an 11-1 lead. It was his second home run of the season. With two outs, a flyout by Xavier Neyens ended the inning.
Adam Shoemaker went four innings, allowing three walks, and struck out six, throwing 80 pitches, of which 45 were strikes, to get the final 12 outs of the game. The Woodpeckers cruised to an 11-1 win over the Warbirds.
Fayetteville finished the night with 17 hits, committed two errors, went 6 for 14 with runners in scoring position, and left nine men on base. German Ramirez went 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs, while Arturo Flores went 2 for 4 with a home run, a walk, and three RBIs. The win went to Fayetteville pitcher Ryan Mathiesen (8-0), while Adam Shoemaker earned his first save of the season, and the loss went to Wilson pitcher Carlos Carra (2-8).
The Woodpeckers and Warbirds play game four on Friday at 7:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Javier Perez (6-3, 3.10 ERA) will be on the mound for Fayetteville against Joey Broughton (0-0, 2.48 ERA) of Wilson.
