Altmann’s two homers, four RBIs lead Woodies past Nats
Josh Altmann swings for his second home run of the game during Friday's 5-3 Down East Wood Ducks victory against the Potomac Nationals Friday night. Altmann finished with four RBIs to lead the team to the win. Photo by William "Bud" Hardy / Neuse News
Josh Altmann is in the zone.
The 23-year-old kept up his smoking start to the second half of the season by slamming two home runs – including a three-run shot in the fourth inning – to lead the Down East Wood Ducks to a 5-3 win against the Potomac Nationals Friday night in front of 2,197 fans at Historic Grainger Stadium.
He now has a team-high 13 home runs along with 38 RBIs on the season.
The Woodies (4-5 second half, 39-40 overall) went ahead 1-0 on Altmann’s solo shot in the bottom of the first and 4-0 on his three-run dinger in the fourth. Potomac (3-5, 40-35), the Carolina League Northern Division’s first-half champion, closed to within a run in the fifth with a three-spot, but an RBI single by Chuck LeBlanc in the fifth provided the final margin.
The win gave the Woodies the series win as the DEWD won three games of the five-game set.
Five Wood Ducks finished with two hits each – Altmann, LeBlanc, Anderson Tejeda, Andretty Cordero and Matt Whatley.
Eric Jenkins of the Down East Wood Ducks swings during Friday’s 5-3 victory against the Potomac Nationals at Historic Grainger Stadium. The outfielder scored once and walked once in the victory.
Wood Ducks starting pitcher Emerson Martinez struck out four and gave up all three earned runs on seven hits in his 4.2 innings of work. His immediate relief, Locke St. John, inherited runners on the corners in the fifth inning. However, St. John got out of the inning and threw two more innings of one-hit ball to earn the victory to improve to 3-2 this season. Jacob Lemoine earned his third save of the season by retiring all six Nationals he faced, including one strikeout.
Aldrem Corredor and Nick Basto had two hits apiece for the Nationals, who travel to Myrtle Beach for a four-game series beginning Saturday. Potomac starting pitcher Matthew DeRosier gave up four earned runs on five hits in four innings of work to fall to 0-1 for the season.
The Wood Ducks start a four-game home series with the Salem Red Sox Saturday night. The first 1,000 fans at Saturday’s game will receive a free Woodies patriotic jersey, sponsored by Spirit AeroSystems. Gates open at 4 p.m., and first pitch is at 6 for the Woodies-Red Sox game.
