Down East wins 2021 season finale

 Thanks to a three-run first inning, the Down East Wood Ducks took the 5-2 win against the Charleston RiverDogs, Sunday afternoon.  Owen White took a no-hitter to the eighth inning and finished with 11 strikeouts to earn the Suddenlink Player of the Game.

Down East (72-48) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first.  Jayce Easley led off with a double and Luisangel Acuña walked to put runners on first and second.  Aaron Zavala hit a groundball to the pitcher, who attempted to throw to second but the ball went to center field.  Easley scored on the error for the 1-0 lead and Acuña advanced to third.  During Cristian Inoa’s at-bat, Charleston starter Franklin Dacosta attempted a pickoff throw but threw it away and that scored Acuña from third for the 2-0 lead.  Zavala advanced to third on the error and scored on a sac fly by Inoa to give the Woodies a 3-0 lead.

The Wood Ducks added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth.  With one out, Keyber Rodriguez blasted a solo home run (5) for the 4-0 lead.

Down East continued to pad their lead in the bottom of the sixth.  Cody Freeman led off the inning by reaching on a fielding error and then stole second and third.  With one out, Rodriguez singled to plate Freeman to put the Woodies ahead 5-0.

Charleston (82-38) plated their first runs of the game in the top of the eighth.  After 7 1/3 no-hit innings, their first hit was a single by Johan Lopez and with two outs, Patrick Merino hit a two-run home run to cut the deficit to 5-2.

White (W, 3-1) tossed 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with 11 strikeouts.  Leury Tejada (S, 3) earned the save, pitching the final 1 1/3 innings allowing just one hit and striking out one.

If Delmarva defeats Salem, the Wood Ducks will take the second seed in the playoffs and play the Charleston RiverDogs on Tuesday, September 21 at Grainger Stadium.

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!