The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (47-47, 15-14) concluded a six-game series against the Fredericksburg Nationals (60-36, 14-6) on Sunday afternoon at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. Charlie Weber was on the mound for Fayetteville against Alexander Meckley.
It was a pitcher’s duel as the game was scoreless in the first four innings. At the top of the fifth inning, Fayetteville had runners on second and third base when Brandon Nigh hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Jadyn Fielder for a 1-0 lead. After D.J. Newman stole third base, Reylin Perez hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Newman for a 2-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Waner Luciano ended the inning.
Fayetteville starter Charlie Weber went four innings, allowing one hit, two walks, and struck out five, throwing 69 pitches, of which 45 were strikes. Brandon Cassedy pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the fifth inning. Cassedy allowed a hit, a walk, and struck out one, throwing 16 pitches, of which 11 were strikes. Aubrey Smith pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Moving to the bottom of the seventh inning, Fredericksburg had a runner on third base with one out when Manuel Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Rafael Ramirez Jr., and it was now 2-1. Smith struck out Gavin Fien to end the inning.
Aubrey Smith allowed a hit with one out before he was replaced by Grayson Saunier. Smith went 3.1 innings, allowing a hit, a run, two walks, and struck out four, throwing 59 pitches, of which 34 were strikes. Grayson Saunier struck out one, throwing six pitches, of which four were strikes, to get the final two outs of the game.
The Woodpeckers split the series with a 2-1 win over the Nationals. Fayetteville finished the afternoon with five hits, went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. The win went to Fayetteville pitcher Brandon Cassedy (1-0), while Grayson Saunier earned his first save of the season, and the loss went to Fredericksburg starter Alexander Meckley (3-2).
The Woodpeckers return to Segra Stadium on Tuesday to begin a six-game homestand against the Hill City Howlers at 6:35 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live.
