The Hill City Howlers dropped a four-hour heartbreaker to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, 3-2, on Wednesday evening.
For the second straight game, the heavens opened in the fourth inning, as rain and wind pelted the ballpark. After light flooding was cleared off on the warning track, the teams continued a tense battle late into the evening.
Fayetteville never let Nelson Keljo find a rhythm early as Josh Wakefield greeted him with a leadoff home run to open the game. Anthony Huezo drove home Kevin Alvarez with a single later in the frame, putting the Woodpeckers up 2-0.
The Howlers bats were quiet before the rain delay hit in the top of the fourth inning. Just over an hour-and-a-half later, the teams retook the field. This was the second straight game with a rain delay of an hour or longer.
The Howlers found momentum in the sixth inning as Cannon Peebles brought home Yaikel Mijares with a single to right.
However, Fayetteville responded in the top of the eighth inning as a passed ball from Tyler Howard allowed Nehomar Ochoa Jr. pushed the lead back to two.
In the bottom of the frame, Jose Pirela drove home a run with a sacrifice fly. The Howlers had the tying run in scoring position but could not drive him home. In the ninth, Hill City got the tying run aboard again, but fell just short as the night ended.
The Howlers and the Woodpeckers square off again on Thursday evening at City Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.