The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (69-53, 37-20) took on the Salem RidgeYaks (52-71, 27-31) in game five on Saturday night at Segra Stadium. Adrian Ardines was on the mound for Fayetteville against Sadbiel Delzine of Salem.
At the top of the first inning, Salem had a runner on second base when Colton Coates reached first base after a throwing error by second baseman German Ramirez allowed Wills Maginnis to score to give the RidgeYaks a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Ardines struck out Louis Andujar.
In the bottom of the second inning, Fayetteville had a runner on second base with two outs when Aaron Piasecki hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Carlos Cauro to tie the game 1-1. Luis De Leon was called out on strikes for the third out.
Moving to the top of the fourth inning, Salem had runners on second and third base with one out when Andruw Musett hit a three-run home run to left field, giving the RidgeYaks a 4-1 lead. It was his fourth home run of the season. With two outs, Ardines struck out Wills Maginnis to end the inning. Adrian Ardines went four innings, allowing three hits, four runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts, throwing 75 pitches, of which 50 were strikes.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Fayetteville third baseman Waner Luciano hit a solo home run to left field, cutting Salem’s lead to 4-2. It was his ninth home run of the season. With two outs, Aaron Piasecki was caught stealing second base.
John Carver pitched for Fayetteville at the top of the fifth inning. He allowed a hit and two walks, throwing 27 pitches, of which 16 were strikes. Jesus Carrera pitched for Fayetteville at the top of the sixth inning. Moving to the bottom of the seventh inning, Fayetteville second baseman German Ramirez tied the game 4-4 with a two-run RBI double to right field, scoring Aaron Piasecki and Rashawn Galloway. Later, Logan Hughes hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Ramirez to give the Woodpeckers a 5-4 lead. With two outs, a flyout by Waner Luciano ended the inning.
Jesus Carrera went three innings, allowing three hits, two walks, and three strikeouts, throwing 53 pitches, of which 34 were strikes. Brandon Cassedy pitched for Fayetteville at the top of the ninth inning. He allowed a hit and struck out two, throwing 14 pitches, of which 10 were strikes, to get the final three outs of the game.
The Woodpeckers beat the RidgeYaks 5-4 for their 11th straight win. Meanwhile, the Wilson Warbirds lost to the Hickory Crawdads 10-7. As a result, the Woodpeckers clinched the Second Half North Division title and are headed to the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
Fayetteville finished the night with seven hits, committed three errors, went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. The win went to Fayetteville pitcher Jesus Carrera (2-4), while Brandon Cassedy earned his fourth save of the season, and the loss went to Salem pitcher Caden Vire.
The Woodpeckers and RidgeYaks concluded the seven-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday at 2 pm. Charlie Weber will pitch game one, and Jank Pichardo will pitch game two for Fayetteville against Berny Ortiz and Jose Bello of Salem.
