ZEBULON, N.C. – Jose Sibrian had a go-ahead, three-run double with two outs in the sixth, Jesus Chirinos homered in the eighth and Jadher Areinamo recorded his league leading 39^th multi-hit game of the season as the first-place Carolina Mudcats defeated the Down East Wood Ducks 7-4 on Thursday night at Five County Stadium.

The Mudcats (33-23, 66-53) were down 3-1 going into the home half of the sixth before Sibrian flipped it around with his two-strike, two-out, three-run double to center. Both Areinamo and Jace Avina reached on a two-out single and two-out hit-by-pitch respectively before Sibrian’s clutch hit. Carolina scored four times overall in the sixth and later added two more on Chirinos’ homer and an Avina RBI double in the eighth while running away with the series-tying 7-4 victory.

Down East (26-30, 63-54) reliever Thomas Ireland allowed all six of Carolina’s runs over the last half of the game and took the loss. Ireland (L, 0-2)(BS, 1) also suffered a blown save while losing a two-run lead in the sixth. Starter D.J. McCarty struck out seven and originally held the Mudcats to just one run on three hits over the first five innings before leaving the game.

Left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick started for Carolina and worked around back-to-back hits and a walk to start the game while holding the Wood Ducks to just one run in the first. Down East’s Echedry Vargas singled on the first pitch of the game and scored in the first, but left with an apparent injury in the middle of his second at bat in the third.

Fitzpatrick allowed a run and two hits in the first, but ended up pitching through the fourth with just the one run and three hits while stifling the Wood Ducks over the remainder of his start. He also struck out four and walked one.

Reliever Yorman Galindez took over in the fifth and went on to match Fitzpatrick with four solid innings to earn the victory. Galindez (W, 2-0) gave up a go-ahead two-run homer to JoJo Blackmon in the sixth, but ended up allowing just the two runs while pitching through eighth. Galindez also finished with six strikeouts, two hits and a walk.

Miguel Villarroel doubled and scored off reliever Chase Costello in the ninth, but Costello and the Mudcats held on for the victory.

The victory leveled Carolina’s current series with Down East at 1-1 and kept the first-place Mudcats 2.5 games ahead of Lynchburg and 3.0 games ahead of Fredericksburg in the Carolina League North second-half standings.

The two teams play a doubleheader that starts at 5 p.m. The doubleheader will be played after Wednesday’s game was rained out.