Photo courtesy of Carolina Mudcats
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April 12, 2024
Zebulon, NC-The Carolina Mudcats (5-1) played host to the Down East Wood Ducks (4-2) for a Friday night doubleheader at Five County Stadium. Josh Knoth took the ball in Game 1 for the Carolina Mudcats and Kyle Larsen was the starting pitcher for the Wood Ducks. Both teams were tied for second place coming into game 1 as the Fredericksburg Nationals (5-0) were the only team with a better record.
In the top of the first inning, Josh Knoth got 2 ground outs and a line out to retire Down East in order. In the bottom of the first, the Mudcats were able to score first 3 runs of the run to take the early lead. Juan Baez started the rally with a walk. After stealing second base, Baez advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by the catcher. Baez would later score on a sacrifice fly to center by Cooper Pratt. After a walk by Tayden Hall and Daniel Guilarte reaching base on an error, Luis Castillo ripped a line drive 2-run double to right field to make the score 3-0.
In the bottom of the second, Down East loaded the bases with a couple of walks and a hit-by-pitch, but Knoth was able to get out of the inning by striking out Wady Mendez. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Mudcats only had Baez reach on an error, but he was thrown out trying to steal 3rd base. Knoth retired Down East in order with a pair of strike outs and a ground out to the shortstop. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Mudcats used 4 straight singles to make it 5-0 with a 2-run RBI single by Tayden Hall. The Mudcats would tack on 1 more with an RBI single by David Garcia to make the score 6-0. Both teams went down in order in the 4th.
In the top of the 5th, Herrara put the Wood Ducks down in order with a pair of strikeouts. The bottom of the 5th saw the Mudcats get 2 runners on base, but were unable to push any runs across. The Wood Ducks went down easy in the 6th as they only reached base on a wild pitch after a strikeout. The Mudcats were unable to get any runs in the bottom half. The Wood Ducks would go down quietly in the top of the 7th to finish the Mudcats 6-0 dominating win. Yujanyer Herrera would quiet the Wood Ducks bats with a staggering 9 strikeouts over the last 4 innings.
The Mudcats improved to 5-1 on the season while the Wood Ducks fell to 5-2. Game 2 will shortly follow game 1 of the doubleheader.
