With his team down a run and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth Thursday night at Segra Stadium, Astros 2023 20th-round pick Pascanel Ferreras picked the perfect time for his first professional home run.
Ferreras ripped an 0-1 fastball over everything in left center field to give the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (57-72, 27-36) the lead for good as they took home a 7-4 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs (66-62, 39-23).
With the win, Fayetteville retakes the series lead over the RiverDogs after Charleston evened the series on Wednesday.
The Woodpeckers were behind the eight ball early after starter Alimber Santa went down with an injury just three batters into the game. Jose Nodal took over on the hill and weathered the storm for Fayetteville, but Charleston still grabbed a run in each of the first three innings to lead 3-0.
Then in the fourth, it was third-round pick Jake Bloss (W, 1-1) who took the ball and never gave it back. Bloss went a career-long six innings allowing just one unearned run and striking out five. The former Georgetown Hoya got some big help defensively in the sixth when Ferreras relayed a throw to the plate and prevented Edwin Barragan from extending Charleston’s lead to four.
Fayetteville got the offense going following that play in the bottom half of the sixth. Garret Guillemette brought the Woodpeckers within a run on a two-run single. A Cooper Kinney single brought the lead to 4-2 for the RiverDogs after seven.
The eighth inning rally began with Ryan Johnson hit by a pitch with one out immediately followed by a Luis Encarnacion single off Charleston reliever Jackson Lancaster (L, 0-2).
Jackson Loftin then singled to left to load the bases, and pinch hitter Juan Santander came through with an RBI single to bring the deficit back to one. Up came Ferreras, who launched the fourth Fayetteville grand slam of the season.
The Woodpeckers will look to guarantee at least a split in their final series of 2023 on Friday night with right-hander Amilcar Chirinos getting the start. On the other side, the RiverDogs hand the ball to right-hander Cade Halemanu.
The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
