NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: A series of stomach-turning losses continued Thursday night, as the GreenJackets walked five Woodpeckers and hit another to hand Fayetteville four runs and a 7-3 win in the 9th inning Thursday, June 5.
A pitchers’ duel early left both sides straining for offense, as Owen Hackman and Anthony Cruz went blow for blow to start the night.
Both sides would strand at least one man in scoring position in the first, before being silenced in the second and third on both sides.
The Woodpeckers struck first for the second consecutive night, manufacturing a run against Hackman in the top of the 4th. Alberto Hernandez led off the inning with a single, and stole both second and third before Justin Trimble drove a sac fly to right to open the scoring.
Hackman returned to the mound for the 5th, but was chased without an out as the bottom of the Woodpecker lineup found the barrel to add insurance. Nehomar Ochoa and Cam Fisher each hit solo homers to opposite sides of the park, tacking a total of 3 runs on Hackman through 4+ innings.
The GreenJackets would get those two runs right back in the bottom half, as a walk and hit by pitch forced Fayetteville to pull Cruz, and Isaiah Drake scored both men on a two-out two-run single.
Despite offensive issues this series, Augusta found a clutch swing in the 6th, tying the game against Juan Varela in his second outing of the year.
Varela walked Douglas Glod with one out, and Luis Sanchez won a 12-pitch battle for a two-out free pass. That put Leiker Figueroa center stage, and he cracked a two-out single to right that scored Glod and tied the game at three.
The bullpens traded zeroes in the late goings, as Reibyn Corona and Adam Shoemaker of Augusta matched Valera and Dawil Almonte of Fayetteville for scoreless tries in the 7th and 8th.
Shoemaker, who had gotten the last out of the 8th to strand a man at 2nd, returned for the 9th and struck out two of the first three hitters before the wheels came off, and disaster struck the GreenJackets for a 3rd straight night.
With a man at 2nd and two down, Shoemaker begun to lose his command, and could not win any 50/50 calls on close pitches. Shoemaker walked Ochoa and Fisher to load the bases, and hit Cesar Hernandez to give the Woodpeckers the lead.
Jancel Villarroel drew another walk that chased Shoemaker, and Fayet dteville would earn two more free passes off of Seth Keller before the final out ended a four-run, one-hit top of the 9th.
Almonte was in line for the win entering the bottom half, and although he left the door open for the GreenJackets by allowing two singles and an error to load the bases, he was at his best in the biggest spots to hold off Augusta.
Almonte struck out Guerra on a pitch in the dirt, retiring the tying run and giving Fayetteville its 5th consecutive win of their road trip.
The GreenJackets have now lost all three games this week in the 9th inning or later, and have dropped four straight games at home overall. On Friday, June 6, Augusta becomes the CSRA River Donkeys in a brand new alternate identity, and hopes the homage to Stallings Island will bring good tidings and an end to this skid.
