Woodpeckers Review: A Pretty Suite Deal

At 2:07 PM EST on a partly cloudy 85° afternoon, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers opened their series closing home contest against the Carolina Mudcats.

Of the Houston Astros’ top 30 “prospects,” three of them continue to ply their trade with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. RHP Alex Santos (10), OF Tyler Whitaker (11), and OF Logan Cerny (26).

Today the Woodpeckers (12-20) are hosting the Carolina Mudcats (16-16) in the sixth and final contest of their series. The Mudcats are the Single-A farm club for the Milwaukee Brewers. Of their six resident top 30 prospects, five are in starting positions for today’s matchup. C Jeferson Quero (5) is batting sixth, DH Hedbert Perez (8) is fifth, CF Jackson Chourio (9) third, SS Eduardo Garcia (12) second, and RF Hendry Mendez (15) is the cleanup man.

In today’s contest, Whitaker is batting sixth and playing shortstop, while Cerny bats third and plays in center field. Deylen Miley, not a ranked prospect but a guy with a nifty 12.9K / 9 gets the start. Miley enters this contest with a 2-1 record, a 2.53 ERA, and a 1.36 WHIP. Despite their less-than-desirable won-loss record, Fayetteville leads this six-game set three-games-to-two coming in.

Fayetteville Woodpeckers 6, Carolina Mudcats 12

Box Score

After trading off zeroes in the first frame, Miley was shown to not have his best stuff in the second. He issued six walks through the first 1 2/3 innings, including two bases loaded free passes to give the Mudcats a 2-0 second inning lead. Freylin Garcia came on in relief, and surrendered another run on a wild pitch and a two-run single to Chourio before getting the third out. Miley had the book closed with five earned runs and a pair of whiffs on his record, growing his ERA to 4.30 for the campaign.

Meanwhile, Stiven Cruz was mowing down the good guys. Eight K’s in his three innings of work, and only a walk issued (to Joey Loperfido), and a single allowed (to Quincy Hamilton). Trailing 5-0 early, the Woodpeckers had a lot of work cut out for them if they still wanted to win the ballgame.

The Woodpeckers greeted new pitcher Pablo Garabitos getting onto the board for the first time. Whitaker scored Cerny on a one-out RBI-groundout to trim the margin to 5-1 in favor of the bad guys.

The aforementioned Santos came on in relief to pitch the fifth inning, and after getting one out, loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of singles. A nice Kenedy Corona running catch and throw in right prevented another run, but Alberis Ferrer followed with a grand slam to make it a 9-1 ballgame. Nevertheless, Santos lasted through eighth inning, and didn’t allow any more runs.

Jaxon Hallmark got a run for the Peckers in their half of the fifth with an RBI-double off the wall in left-center. Later in the inning Victor Mascai drove home a pair with a double to make it 9-4.

The fans here at Segra Stadium don’t care. Never tell them the odds! Trailing by seven runs in the fifth inning, the 3,811 on hand went nuts for Mascai’s double. This fan base is NEVER say die. Loperfido made it 9-5 with a seventh-inning RBI-double. He crossed the plate himself later in the inning when Corona was safe on a fielding error.

The score remained there until the top of the ninth inning, when new Woodpeckers reliever Jayson Schroeder allowed three runs on a hit, a hit batsman, and four walks. Fabricio Reina came on to get the final two outs.

Now trailing 12-6, the Woodpeckers managed a Mascai single, but that was it. Cerny went 1-for-3 with a triple, a walk, two whiffs, and three runs scored. Whitaker finished 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and a RBI.

Ballpark Refinements

The club level of Segra Stadium is nicely apportioned. With six luxury boxes that seat 20 each, they’re available in single-game or seasonal-ticket format. For exact prices you’ll have to contact the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, but a single game figures somewhere between $2-to-$3 thousand dollars.

Janetta (pictured) has been working with the Woodpeckers organization since Segra Stadium opened back in 2019. She works the club area and knows each of her patrons so well that she can tell them not to eat certain things due to their dietary restrictions. I don’t even know what my own kids are allergic to (that’s what my wife says anyway). The bottom line is, if you can’t have mushrooms, Janetta will make sure you live to see another ballgame. Isn’t that really the most you could ask for?

Last Thoughts

Briefly, you know how we call the Woodpeckers the “Peckers,” and like, the San Diego Padres are the “Friars,” and the Milwaukee Brewers are the “Crew?” The Mudcats? Are they the Fish or the Cats? I don’t know! Somebody offer some solutions here. Anyway, keep checking Crawfish Boxes for the latest on any- and everything Astros.

Check back here next Sunday as Kevin takes his show on the road to catch Fayetteville visiting the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.