Acuna and Mateo homer 

After jumping out to an early lead, the Down East Wood Ducks defeated the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, 5-1 Saturday night.  Luisangel Acuña and Daniel Mateo each hit a home run to push the Wood Ducks to their 63rd win of the season. 

Down East (63-44) took the early lead against Kannapolis starter Martin Carrasco (1-8).  Jayce Easley and Aaron Zavala worked back-to-back walks in the bottom of the first.  With two runners on, Acuña launched a three-run home run (10) to put the Woodies ahead 3-0. 

Kannapolis responded in the top of the third with one run to cut the deficit to 3-1. 

The Woodies continued to swing the bat in the fifth inning.  Mateo led off with a solo home run (2) for the 4-1 lead.  Easley followed with a double and advanced to third on a ground out by Zavala.  Acuña drove in Easley with a sac fly to push the Down East lead to 5-1. 

Krauth (W, 5-7) earned the win, pitching six innings with one unearned run allowed on two hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts.  Michael Brewer (S, 1) tossed three scoreless innings, issuing one walk and notching four strikeouts en route to his first save of the season.  

The series concludes tomorrow with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.  RHP Owen White (0-1, 4.91) will get the ball for the Wood Ducks and Kannapolis will send RHP Matt Thompson (1-7, 6.35) to the mound. 

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!