Raleigh Red Oaks Go 2-2 In first Week

Written by Daniel Susann

A solid first week for the Raleigh Red Oaks began with a thrilling season opener. The Red Oaks defeated the Danville Dairy Daddies 9-7 in a back-and-forth contest on opening day. After the Dairy Daddies had taken a 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh, Red Oaks power hitters Jay Secretarski and Peyton Clay took charge in the bottom half. Secretarski smoked an RBI-triple into the gap to tie it up. Clay then went yard with a game-winning two-run home run. Right handed pitcher Keeghan Holmes went 3.1 giving up one earned run with five strikeouts, recording the win. Gavin Meagher struck out the side in the ninth to record the save.

The Red Oaks did not fare as well on the road in their second game of the season versus the Wake Forest Fungo, losing 9-3 Tuesday night. The Red Oaks tallied seven hits and eight walks, but could only manage to bring three across the plate. Right-handed Will Eichler put four solid innings on the board, letting up three runs and striking out four batters.

Returning to Optimist Park on Wednesday, fans enjoyed another high-scoring game with the Red Oaks taking the cake in the end. Even while recording four errors in the field, the Red Oaks held off a late charge from the Lexington Flying Pigs to win 14-11. The top of the lineup came through for Raleigh with Tyler Wright and Matthew Vannoy both recording two hits and two RBI. Brennen Kiser on the mound struck out four in 3.0, giving up three earned runs.

Back on the road Thursday, the Red Oaks’ rematch versus the Dairy Daddies is still technically undecided after a scoring mistake in the top of the ninth. There is still one at-bat to be played, which will happen prior to the next meeting between these teams on June 17. Down 10-8, the Red Oaks batter will come the plate with men on first and second and two outs and two strikes. Prior to this ending, the bats went cold for much of the game, with Danville holding a 6-1 lead heading into the seventh. The Red Oaks then tallied seven runs in the seventh and eighth to try to get back into the fight, but the Dairy Daddies punched right back scoring four. We’ll see if the Red Oaks can come up clutch when the game resumes.

To close out the week on Friday night, the Red Oaks fell at the Wake Forest Fungo 6-5. Raleigh grabbed an early lead after Adrian Gonzalez smacked a three run homer in the top of the first. It was back-and-forth till the seventh when Wake Forest smacked a go-ahead homer of its own. With a chance to tie it up in the ninth, the Red Oaks could not take advantage with the bases loaded and no outs.

Through four games(and 8.2 innings), the RedOaks sit fourth in the Piedmont division with games at the Lexington Flying Pigs and the Highpoint Hushpuppies on deck.