RiverDogs Strand 12 in Extra-Innings Loss

The Charleston RiverDogs played their third extra-innings contest in the last six days, this time falling to the Fredericksburg Nationals 5-4 in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. Bryan Broecker grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out to close the game. Charleston went 4-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 men on base. The contest was played in front of a lively crowd of 4,894.

The Nationals (19-9) started the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Nate Ochoa worked a one-out walk off Gary Gill Hill to start the rally. After Gill Hill struck out Christian Vaquero, Marcus Brown lined a triple to the right field corner to drive in the first run of the game. Jeremy De La Rosa doubled the advantage with an RBI single in the very next at-bat.

The RiverDogs (11-15) answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Narciso Polanco opened the inning with a walk and quickly stole second base. With one out, Tre’ Morgan and Angel Mateo collected back-to-back singles, the second of which put the home team on the board. Later in the same frame, Raudelis Martinez lifted a sacrifice fly to center field that tied the game.

Armando Cruz doubled to open the top of the fifth and moved to third on a ground out by Ochoa. Vaquero put Fredericksburg back on top with a sacrifice fly of his own in the next plate appearance.

Odalys Peguero worked a leadoff walk in the sixth and then stole second base immediately to put the tying run in scoring position. He also stole third base, allowing him to race home on Polanco’s line drive to center field.

The 3-3 tie carried into the first extra-frame, when Brenner Cox lined a two-run home run off of Adam Boucher in the first at-bat. The RiverDogs didn’t go quietly, scoring a run on three walks by Mason Denaburg in the bottom half. Broecker fell behind in the count 0-2 and rolled a groundball up the middle that Cruz gloved, took to second and threw to first to end the game.

Mateo paced all hitters with a 3-5 day at the plate, extending his hitting streak to a team-high nine games. Polanco added a pair of hits to the attack. The Nationals received two hits each from De La Rosa and Cruz.

Gill Hill allowed three runs in 6.0 innings of work, striking out seven along the way. Chris Villaman followed with 3.0 scoreless frames, surrendering just one hit.

Ballpark Fun

The RiverDogs hosted their first Twisted Tea Dog Day Tuesday featuring a puppy playground courtesy of Camp Bow Wow. The game also featured a parade of pugs through the concourse between the seating bowls during the middle innings.

The second installment of the series is slated for Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Santiago Suarez (2-1, 2.25) will toe the rubber for the RiverDogs. Opposing him will be Fredericksburg RHP Travis Sykora (0-1, 9.00). The first 1,000 fans into he ballpark will receive a Dr. Mary Thornley bobblehead as the team celebrates the career of the retiring President of Trident Technical College.