The Fredericksburg Nationals were silenced through eight innings before rallying in the ninth inning on Friday night, but saw their comeback foiled in a 7-3 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds.
Representing the potential tying run with the bases loaded, Ricardo Méndez lined out to the warning track in left field to end the game and even up Fredericksburg’s series two games apiece.
The Shorebirds scored three runs in the second inning against Karlo Seijas (L, 3-9), thanks to a Ryne Ogren sacrifice fly, Yorkislandy Alvarez RBI groundout and a Willy Yahn RBI double. They added another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Yahn, extending the Delmarva lead to 4-0.
Seijas allowed four runs in 5.0 innings, and was no match for Delmarva’s Houston Roth (W, 6-1) and his five two-hit innings. Yahn brought home two more runs on a single against Bryan Peña in the sixth, and Ogren hit Delmarva’s third sacrifice fly of the game in the seventh to give the Shorebirds a 7-0 lead.
Tomás Alastre pitched 2.0 scoreless innings for the FredNats to send the game to the bottom of the ninth, where the FredNats broke the ice with an RBI single from Onix Vega. Bases-loaded walks to Braian Fernández and José Sánchez followed, setting up Méndez for his big at-bat in a 7-3 ballgame. Jake Zebron (S, 1) served up a rocket to the Fredericksburg left fielder, but it was caught at the track to end the game.
The FredNats continue their series against the Shorebirds on Saturday night. First pitch from FredNats Ballpark is scheduled for 6:05, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 5:50 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
