Matthews strikes out career-high 12 

The Down East Wood Ducks tallied their sixth walkoff win of the season with a 5-4 win in 11 innings against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Wednesday night.  John Matthews had a career day as he set a career-high with 12 strikeouts. 

For the second game in-a-row, Fayetteville (44-54) opened the scoring with a run in the second and two in the third to take a 3-0 lead. 

Down East (58-40) started to climb back with a run in the bottom of the fourth.  Luisangel Acuña led off with a walk and stole second (36).  Keyber Rodriguez singled and that scored Acuña to make the score 3-1.  

The Wood Ducks plated another run in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out, Acuña singled and stole second (37).  Rodriguez grounded out but Acuña advanced to third on the play.  With Cody Freeman at the plate, Acuña scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 3-2. 

Down East managed to tie the game down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth.  With two outs, Freeman blasted a solo home run (5) to force extra innings. 

Fayetteville plated a run in the top of the tenth to take a 4-3 lead. 

The Wood Ducks came back to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth.  With Keithron Moss pinch running at second, Xavier Valentin flew out to center but Moss advanced to third.  Cristian Inoa singled to score Moss and tie the game at four. 

After a scoreless top of the 11th, the Wood Ducks plated the winning run in the bottom of the inning.  Jayce Easley started the inning at second and advanced to third on a passed ball.  Daniel Mateo hit a single to score Easley and give the Woodies the 5-4 win.  

Matthews took the no-decision but had a great outing as he pitched 5 1/3 innings with three runs allowed on six hits with two walks and a career-high 12 strikeouts.  Eris Filpo pitched 4 2/3 innings with one unearned run allowed on six hits with four strikeouts.  Eudrys Mañon (2-0) earned the win as he pitched one scoreless inning with two strikeouts. 

The series continues tomorrow with first pitch set for 7:00 p.m.  RHP Nick Lockhart (1-0, 9.89) gets the ball for Down East and Fayetteville will counter with RHP Elian Rodriguez (1-2, 3.68). 

Fans can purchase tickets on woodducksbaseball.com, by calling the Wood Ducks Team Offices at (252) 686-5164 or in the Wood Ducks Team Offices located at Grainger Stadium (Mon-Fri – 9am - 4pm).  Make sure to follow your Down East Wood Ducks on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook so you don’t miss anything!