Fayetteville, NC - The Charleston RiverDogs held the lead from the first inning through the top of the seventh on Saturday night at Segra Stadium. In the blink of an eye, that lead evaporated as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers scored six runs in the bottom half to run away with a 9-4 victory. The RiverDogs will aim for a series split during Sunday’s series finale.
Engert Garcia took over for the fateful inning with a 4-2 lead. Alejandro Nunez greeted him with a first pitch single and the next two batters each worked a free pass to load the bases for the top of the order. The right-hander rebounded to strike out Anthony Sherwin before Kenni Gomez tied the game with a groundball single to right that caromed off the glove of second baseman Odalys Peguero. With the go-ahead run at third base, Carlos Colmenarez mishandled Oliver Carrillo’s chopper to third, allowing the Woodpeckers to take their first lead. Fayetteville added three more runs in that inning and one more in the eighth.
For the third contest in a row, the RiverDogs (4-4) jumped ahead in their first opportunity at the plate. Angel Mateo singled through the left side with one out and was able to move station to station around the bases as the next three batters each worked a walk. Ricardo Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly added a second run before three outs were recorded.
Fayetteville (4-4) answered quickly in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Oliver Carrillo and Luis Encarnacion singled off Chandler Murphy to bring Chase Jaworsky to the plate. The second baseman also found a hole as his RBI single cut the lead in half.
The teams exchanged single runs over the next several innings. First, a sacrifice fly from Carlos Colmenarez in the fifth inning pushed the lead back to two. Encarnacion clubbed his first home run of the season, a solo shot, in the Fayetteville half of the sixth inning to make it a 3-2 game. Noah Myers then answered with a solo home run of his own in the top of the seventh as the advantage increased to 4-2.
Starting pitcher Chandler Murphy tossed 4.0 solid innings for the RiverDogs, allowing one run on four hits. Garcia took the loss after surrendering five runs, three of them earned, in 0.2 innings.
Encarnacion went 4-5 with a home run and two RBI for the Woodpeckers. Tre’ Morgan posted his second straight multi-hit game for the RiverDogs, finishing 2-4 with three stolen bases.
The series concludes on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. RHP Owen Wild (0-0, 0.00) will take his turn in the rotation for the RiverDogs. Opposing him will be RHP Sandy Mejia (1-0, 9.00) of Fayetteville.
The RiverDogs continue their hunt for a fourth-consecutive Carolina League championship in 2024. The full schedule of games is available here.
Fayetteville 9, Charleston 4
April 13, 2024
Click here for the box score
Charleston (R-H-E): 4-5-2
Fayetteville (R-H-E): 9-10-1
Win: Pena (1-0)
Loss: Garcia (0-1)
Save:
HR: Charleston: Noah Myers (2, 7th inning, 0 on base)
HR: Fayetteville: Luis Encarnacion (1, 6th inning, 0 on base)
