The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (46-45, 14-12) played game three against the Fredericksburg Nationals (58-35, 12-5) on Thursday night at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. Jagger Beck was on the mound for Fayetteville against Levi Huesman of Fredericksburg.
At the top of the first inning, Fayetteville had a runner on second base with two outs when Wanier Luciano hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Josh Wakefield for a 1-0 lead. Arturo Flores popped out to shortstop Coy James for the final out of the inning.
At the top of the third inning, Fayetteville had runners on the corners when Wanier Luciano hit an RBI single to left field, scoring German Ramirez for a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Arturo Flores grounded out to shortstop, scoring Kevin Alvarez for a 3-0 lead.
Fayetteville left fielder Jayden Fielder followed up by hitting an RBI single to center field, scoring Wanier Luciano for a 4-0 lead. First baseman Carlos Cauro followed up by clearing the bases with a two-run home run to left field, making it 6-0. It was Cauro’s fifth home run of the season. A groundout by Reylin Perez ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on first base with one out when Jayden Fielder hit an RBI triple to right field, scoring Arturo Flores for a 7-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Reylin Perez ended the inning.
At the top of the sixth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on third base when German Ramirez struck out swinging on a wild pitch by Leuris Portorreal, scoring Josh Wakefield for an 8-0 lead, and Ramirez made it to first base. Later, with runners on the corners, Juan Sierra hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring German Ramirez for a 9-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Arturo Flores ended the inning.
Fayetteville starter Jagger Beck pitched a great game. He went six innings, allowing a hit, a walk, and six strikeouts, throwing 73 pitches, of which 45 were strikes. Adam Shoemaker pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the seventh inning. Shoemaker went two innings, allowing two hits, three walks, and struck out three, throwing 59 pitches, of which 32 were strikes.
At the top of the eighth inning, Fayetteville had the bases loaded when Jayden Fielder was hit by a pitch, scoring Kevin Alvarez for a 10-0 lead. With two outs, Reylin Perez popped out to second baseman Luke Dickerson to end the inning.
Leomar Rosario pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the ninth inning. Rosario loaded the bases with two outs when he threw a wild pitch, scoring Dashyll Tejeda to end the shutout. It was now 10-1. He threw another wild pitch, scoring Coy James, and it was now 10-2. A flyout by Juan Cruz ended the game. The Woodpeckers defeated the Nationals 10-2.
Fayetteville finished the night with 11 hits, committed two errors, went 4 for 21 with runners in scoring position, and left 12 men on base. Jayden Fielder went 2 for 3 with a triple, a walk, a hit by a pitch, and three RBIs. Waner Luciano went 4 for 6 with a double, a stolen base, and two RBIs. The win went to Fayetteville starter Jagger Beck (3-3), and the loss went to Fredericksburg starter Levi Huesman (3-4).
The Woodpeckers and Nationals play game four on Friday at 6:35 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Fayetteville has not named a starter, while Landon Harmon (1-0, 2.25 ERA) will be on the mound for Fredericksburg.
