The Potomac Nationals (6-3 Overall, 1-2 Home) pummeled the Wilmington Blue Rocks (3-6 Overall, 2-1 Road) 14-6 in series Game Three of a four-game set on Saturday night at G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium.
Every P-Nats’ starter reached base safely, eight of nine swingers recorded a base hit, and the combination of Nationals SS Osvaldo Abreu (four), 1B Jose Marmolejos (three), and 3B Drew Ward (three) turned in a total of 10 runs batted in.
In the contest, 20 total runs scored, 26 hits were collected, and five overall errors were made between Potomac and Wilmington. The P-Nats went 8-for-20 with runners in scoring position during their victory.
In three of their scoring innings, the Nationals had more runs than hits as Potomac scored four runs in the 2nd (three hits), four runs in the 4th (two hits), and three runs in the 6th (two hits).
The Nationals set a 2016 season high for runs in a single game after their shellacking of the Rocks.
Potomac CF Andrew Stevenson set a 2016 single game high for stolen bases (three) in the clash.
Despite being tagged for six runs (five earned) on 10 hits, P-Nats starter, RHP Boone Whiting (2-0) earned his second win of the season. Whiting walked one, fanned three, and overcame a wild pitch.
Blue Rocks starting hurler, RHP Ashton Goudeau (1-1) got hit harder than his Potomac counterpart. Goudeau surrendered eight runs (five earned) on six base knocks including a home run while he walked four and struck out only one batter.
For the third straight game in the series, the Nationals failed to score first. An error by Abreu at shortstop allowed Blue Rocks 3B Austin Bailey to score in the 2nd and on the same play, Wilmington C Luis Villegas was cut down between first and second base on a throw from Whiting to Marmolejos.
Against Goudeau, Potomac answered with their first of two four-run frames in the last of the 2nd. Nationals LF Alec Keller launched a ground-rule double, DH Khayyan Norfork ripped an RBI single to right-center field scoring Keller, a foot pulled off the second base bag and an errant throw costed Wilmington 2B Humberto Arteaga two errors on a ball hit by Potomac RF Narciso Mesa and allowed Norfork to score, and later in the inning, Abreu cranked a two-run triple to the gap in left-center to give the P-Nats a 4-1 lead.
Wilmington tied the game at 4-4 in the 3rd on a two-RBI triple to center field off the stick of RF Elier Hernandez and a run-scoring infield single by CF Brandon Downes.
The Nationals took a commanding 8-4 advantage with four runs in the 4th frame when Stevenson rapped an RBI groundout up the middle, Abreu sent 2B David Masters, who walked, to the plate on a run-scoring infield single to Arteaga at shortstop, and Marmolejos yanked a mammoth two-run home run over all three tiers of signage in right field.
The Blue Rocks brought home two runs in the 5th via a Bailey RBI single to left-center and a sac fly off the bat of LF Roman Collins to make it an 8-6 affair. This pair of runs would stand as Wilmington’s last run tallies in the contest.
Wilmington LHP Ian Tompkins allowed three earned runs in 2.1 relief innings and Blue Rocks LHP Mark McCoy also allowed three earned runs over his 2.0 bullpen innings.
The Nationals summoned home six unanswered runs from the 6th to the 8th to coast to their second-biggest win of the 2016 season (eight run differential). Three runs in the 6th for The Red, White, and Blue came across the plate on a bases loaded, sacks clearing triple from 3B Drew Ward blasted to the fence in left-center field. After the 7th Inning Stretch, back-to-back RBI doubles from Abreu and Marmolejos put the score at 13-6. The final score was catalyzed when Keller led off with a triple in the 8th and scored on a wild pitch from McCoy.
Nationals reliever, RHP Mario Sanchez was stellar through 3.0 scoreless stanzas in which he allowed only three hits but no walks. Sanchez sat down two hitters via the strikeout.
P-Nats LHP Justin Thomas closed out the game in a non-save situation. Thomas stranded one runner in scoring position when the southpaw induced Downes into a swinging strikeout to punctuate the one-sided ballgame.
Wilmington leads the series two games to one entering the finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:05pm.
Game Four at Pfitzner Stadium tomorrow sends Nationals RHP Luis Reyes (0-1, 4.50) to the mound to deal against Blue Rocks LHP Colin Rodgers (0-0, 0.00).
The Potomac Nationals Baseball Network will carry live coverage of the game beginning with the “P-Nats Lead-Off Show” at 12:50pm before the live play-by-play at 1:05pm. P-Nats Gameday Audio on the Potomac Nationals Baseball Network is accessible at www.potomacnationals.com or with the TuneIn Radio App.
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