The Down East Wood Ducks celebrate winning a share of the 2017 Mills Cup championship at Myrtle Beach on Sept. 8, 2017. Photo courtesy Down East Wood Ducks

Editor’s note: This story is the fifth of a five-part series on the historic run by the 2019 Down East Wood Ducks.

By Bryan Hanks

Josh Altmann was a key figure in the 2017 championship run that literally came out of nowhere for the Down East Wood Ducks.

The Woodies were nine-and-a-half games out of first place in the Carolina League Southern Division on July 25, seven-and-a-half games back with 16 games to go and four behind with seven games left in the season.

They won on the final game of the regular season at Campbell University against the Buies Creek Astros — the forefather of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers — to clinch the division and to eventually earn a share of the title with Lynchburg.

“What I remember most is we thought we were going home,” Altmann recalled with a laugh. “If we say otherwise, we’re lying to ourselves. But we just got hot at the right time … and lo and behold, we went into Buies Creek that final weekend and won three straight to head to the playoffs.”

After miraculously clinching the second-half Southern Division title in Buies Creek,, the Wood Ducks defeated Myrtle Beach two games to none in the Southern Division Championship Series. However, Hurricane Irma forced the cancellation of the Mills Cup Finals and the Carolina League declared the Woodies and the Lynchburg Hillcats — the Northern Division champs — co-titlists.

Altmann said he learned a valuable lesson from the 2017 run.

“Never take anything for granted, whether you’re up or you’re down,” he said. “People might’ve taken us for granted and thought we were going to roll over and get ready to go home. The next thing we know, we had a ring on our finger.

“It’s the same thing with this season — we’re now the team on top. As long as we go day to day, don’t take anything for granted and play hard every game, hopefully, that’ll lead this team to a championship team.”

The pursuit for 90 wins — and a title

Following Friday’s loss at Wilmington, if the Woodies win at least six of their final 11 games, they’ll set the Kinston professional baseball wins record.

“It would certainly give us something to brag about,” DEWD Assistant General Manager Janell Bullock said.

Woodies manager Corey Ragsdale said he certainly expects his team is to set the wins record.

“But whether they break the record or not, the thing I will be most proud of will be how these guys went about their job,” Ragsdale said. “Ultimately, it is a job. Whether you’re cleaning toilets or if you’re the CEO of a company, your job is to be the best you can be every day.

“That’s what these guys have been able to do.”

Ultimately, the goal for this team is not to win 90 games, it’s to win a Carolina League title. Of the previous eight Kinston teams that won 85 or more games in a season, four of them went on to win a league championship.

“Not to demean that record, but you play to win a ring,” Wood Ducks Director of Broadcasting and Media Director Matt Present said. “To have a record and not get a ring at the end, I think there would be a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.”

Catcher Sam Huff made his expectations clear.

“We want to win a ring,” Huff said. “When we clinched the first half, we decided we wanted to win it all. But when we leave the field for the final time this season, we want to feel we gave everything we’ve got, whether we win a title or not.”

Notes: Sources for this series include Baseball-Reference.com, The Free Press archives, Statscrew.com, Neuse News archives, Distributed Wikipedia and Down East Wood Ducks Director of Broadcasting Matt Present. … The author of this story has been the public address announcer for the Down East Wood Ducks since the team’s inception in 2017.