Nats Win a Wild One 7-4

SALISBURY, MD - A pitcher’s duel turned into a shootout, with the FredNats landing the final shot in a 7-4 win over the Shorebirds. FXBG is now 11-3 (46-34), and Delmarva falls to 6-8 (29-50).

Neither Juan Rojas nor Travis Sthele allowed a run through four innings, with both offenses managing just one base hit.

That scoreless tie was quickly snapped in the top of the fifth, when Nate Rombach clubbed a no-doubt home run to give the Nats a 1-0 edge. The inning continued with a pair of singles and an E5 to load the bases, when a wild pitch from Jared Beck turned into a second run for the Nats. A walk loaded the bases again, and Everett Cooper III plated a third run in the inning with a single to left field.

Cristhian Vaquero gave FXBG a 4-0 lead with his RBI infield single in the sixth, but Delmarva respond in the bottom half. With a runner on first base, Stiven Acevedo smacked a single up the middle. Due to a combination of base running and defensive mistakes, Acevedo ended up circling the bases for a Little League home run, trimming the Shorebird deficit to 4-2. Then in the seventh, a wild pitch by Moises Diaz cut the score to 4-3 Fredericksburg.

The Nats then took advantage of two Delmarva wild pitches in the eighth inning to run their lead back out to 6-3, but in the bottom half, Aneudis Mordan blasted an RBI double off the wall in dead center field to make it 6-4 Nationals.

Sammy Infante tacked on one more run in the ninth, as the FredNats ran their winning streak up to eight games with a 7-4 final score tonight. Travis Sthele (3-6) notched the win, Samuel Vasquez earned his fifth save, and Juan Rojas (1-3) suffered the loss.

In the series finale, Bryan Polanco (6-2, 2.97) gets the nod against Trey Gibson (1-4, 3.19) in a 7:05 start.