Green and Sykora Lift Freddies over Fireflies

COLUMBIA, SC - Elijah Green’s three-run home run proved to be the key swing in a 6-4 win for Fredericksburg, to begin their series against the Columbia Fireflies. FXBG is now 30-19 (65-50), and Columbia is 26-21 (61-51).

Brenner Cox helped manufacture an early run for the Nats, as he singled on the very first pitch of the ballgame, stole second base and moved to third on an E2, then scored on a sac fly off the bat of Seaver King.

Columbia managed to break through against Travis Sykora in the third inning, despite not hitting a ball out of the infield. Two straight infield rollers turned into two base runners for Columbia, then Jhonny Perdomo laid down what was intended to be a sacrifice bunt. However, Sykora fired the ball wide of first base and into right field, allowing both runners to score and give Columbia a 2-1 edge. That turned to 3-1 one batter later, on yet another infield single that brought Perdomo in to score.

Fredericksburg hit back right away, as Seaver King singled and stole second base with one out in the top of the fourth. He moved to third on a fielder’s choice, then scored on Caleb Lomavita’s single to bring the Nationals within a run. Lomavita then stole second, and came home to score on a two-out, two-strike single by Jose Colmenares to tie the game.

In the top of the fifth, Jorgelys Mota and Brenner Cox each singled, putting two men aboard for Elijah Green. He then launched a three-run homer the other way to right-center, which put the Nationals up 6-3.

Travis Sykora finished his outing by striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth inning, to tie his season-high with 10 punchouts.

The FredNat bullpen took over from there, with the only blemish being a solo home run against Bubba Hall. He worked the sixth and seventh innings, followed by Matt Bollenbacher for the final two frames to close out a 6-4 FredNat win. Sykora (4-3) picked up the win, Jonatan Bernal (1-4) suffered the loss, and Bollenbacher recorded his second save.

In game two, Alex Clemmey (1-5, 4.81) takes the ball against Mauricio Veliz (1-3, 7.01) in a 7:05 start in Columbia.