Nationals Outlast 'Birds 15-10

SALISBURY, MD - The FredNats outlasted the Delmarva Shorebirds 15-10 in a Friday night slugfest in Salisbury.

Elijah Green put the Nats up by a run in the top of the first inning, when he smoked a line drive single into left field to plate Johnathon Thomas.

In the bottom of the second, Delmarva had a counter. Jalen Vasquez opened the frame with a walk, before a pair of singles from Angel Tejada and Randy Florentino plated Vasquez to tie the game at 1-1. Erison Placencia followed with a roller to third base, but it was mishandled by John McHenry and Tejada scored to put the Shorebirds in front. Adam Crampton kept things rolling with an RBI double to left, before Tavian Josenberger made it a 4-1 Delmarva lead with his single to plate Crampton.

Phillip Glasser singled in the top of the third for the Nationals, then later in the inning, Elijah Green worked a two-out walk. A balk moved Glasser to third and Green to second base, before Marcus Brown pulled a single into right to bring both men home, pulling Fredericksburg to within a run at 4-3.

Delmarva made it 5-3 in the third, but the Freddies bounced back in the fourth. Elijah Nunez walked and stole second base, then Johnathon Thomas got hit by a pitch. After a double steal, Phillip Glasser hammered a two-run double to tie the ballgame at 5-5. Glasser took third on a wild pitch by Angel Vargas, who then walked Leandro Emiliani. Vargas did get Roismar Quintana to ground into a double play, but Glasser scored on the sequence which put the Nats in front 6-5. However, a sac fly by the Hillcats in the bottom of the inning once again tied things up.

Delmarva wound up costing themselves two runs in the fifth inning. Alfred Vega allowed a pair of base hits with three wild pitches mixed in, which allowed Marcus Brown to work his way around from first base and score. Later, an E6 turned into another run for the FredNats, as they pulled ahead 8-6. Tuda Thomas reached first base on that error, swiped second base, then scored on a two-run knock by Glasser to add on to the Fredericksburg lead. After a pitching change, Glasser stole third base and scored on a poor throw to make it 11-6 Nationals.

The Shorebirds got a run back in the fifth with an RBI single from Randy Florentino. But in the sixth, Geraldi Diaz blasted a two-run homer to right field, giving Fredericksburg a 13-7 lead.

Things kept clicking for the Nats in the seventh. Leandro Emiliani drew a walk with one gone, when Roismar Quintana clubbed his fourth home run of the year to make it a 15-7 game.

Delmarva got two runs back in the seventh and one more in the bottom of the ninth, but Bubba Hall closed out a 15-10 Nationals win. Pedro Gonzalez improved to 8-3 with the win, and Alfred Vega dropped to 4-5. In the penultimate game of the year, Bryan Polanco makes his second Single-A start for Fredericksburg, against Raul Rangel