Woodpeckers Blanked on Opening Night Despite Strong Pitching

Fayetteville, NC - The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (0-1) kicked off the seventh season in franchise history on Friday night in downtown Fayetteville, but were unable to scratch across their first run of the season, falling to the newly-minted Wilson Warbirds (0-1) 2-0 on Opening Night at Segra Stadium.

The ballgame saw a combined 30 strikeouts, 15 per lineup, as a scoreless pitchers duel carried into the ninth inning.

Gabel Pentecost was handed the ball for the Opening Night start and impressed in his professional debut with seven strikeouts over 4.0 innings. The sixth-round pick out of Taylor University stranded the bases loaded in the first inning and worked around a pair of defensive errors in a scoreless third. He retired the side in order in the fourth before turning the ball over to Juan Perez out of the bullpen.

Perez continued to miss bats, striking out eight Warbirds across four scoreless innings. He fanned the side in order in the top of the eighth to keep the game deadlocked.

Fayetteville’s lineup was unable to support the pitching staff, notching just three singles throughout the nine. First-round pick Xavier Neyens singled to center field in his first professional at bat, Nehomar Ochoa Jr connected for a hit in the second, and Juan Sierra skipped a ball to center in the sixth.

Leomar Rosario (L, 0-1) entered in relief in the top of the ninth and struggled to find the zone. He walked Filippo Di Turi and Yannic Walther to start the inning, then allowed Di Turi to score the game’s first run on a Luiyin Alastre grounder to shortstop. Rosario then fired a pickoff throw wide of first that allowed Jadyn Fielder to score for the 2-0 lead.

Jose Meneses (W, 1-0) closed out the Warbirds first win in franchise history, striking out five across a hitless eighth and ninth inning.

The Woodpeckers will look for their first win of the season on Saturday night in the second game of the three-game series. RHP Ethan Pecko is projected to start for Fayetteville in a minor league rehab assignment and Wilson will roll out RHP Enniel Cortez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM. The first 1,500 fans through the gates will take home a cream replica jersey courtesy of Blue Diamond Transportation.

Full Box Score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/827291/final/box