The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (71-54, 39-21) visited L.P. Frans Stadium for their final six-game road trip of the regular season against the Carolina League Second Half South Division champion Hickory Crawdads (78-47, 44-17). Aubrey Smith was on the mound for Fayetteville against Connor O’Hara of Hickory.
The game was scoreless in the first three innings. At the top of the fourth inning, Fayetteville had a runner on second base with two outs when Aaron Piasecki hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Owen Nowak to put the Woodpeckers up 1-0. A groundout by Arturo Flores ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hickory had runners on second and third base with one out when Brandon Crabtree hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Yolfran Castillo, tying the game 1-1. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Josh Springer hit a two-run RBI single to center field, scoring Paulino Santana and Brandon Crabtree to give the Crawdads a 3-1 lead. A sacrifice fly by Daniel Flames scored Deward Tovar for a 4-1 lead. A flyout by Kolby Branch ended the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning, Fayetteville first baseman Ben Tryon hit a solo home run to right field, cutting Hickory’s lead to 4-2. It was his second home run of the season. With two outs, a groundout by Kevin Alvarez ended the inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hickory had a runner on second base with one out when Yolfran Castillo flies out to left fielder Owen Nowak.
A throwing error by Nowak scored Kaden Carpenter for a 5-2 lead. With two outs, Paulino Santana was caught stealing third base. Aubrey Smith went five innings, allowing four hits, five runs, four walks, and five strikeouts, throwing 80 pitches, of which 49 were strikes.
Carson Estridge pitched for Fayetteville in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Hickory had the bases loaded with one out when Estridge walked Yolfran Castillo, scoring Kolby Branch for a 6-2 lead. With two outs, Brandon Crabtree grounded into a forceout at third base to end the inning.
Estridge went 1.1 innings, allowing a hit, a run, three walks, and one strikeout, throwing 33 pitches, of which 16 were strikes. John Carver pitched in the bottom of the seventh inning. He went 1.2 innings, allowing a hit and three strikeouts, throwing 24 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
Fayetteville would see their 13-game winning streak come to an end with a 6-2 loss to the Crawdads. They finished the night with seven hits, committed one error, went 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. Ben Tyron went 2 for 3 with a home run and one RBI. The loss went to Fayetteville starter Aubrey Smith (1-7), and the loss went to Hickory Brandon Jaenke (2-0).
The Woodpeckers and Crawdads play game two on Wednesday at 7:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. The Woodpeckers will name their starter tomorrow, while Seong-Jun Kim (0-1, 0.71 ERA) will be on the mound for Hickory.
