FredNats win fourth straight in rain-shortened night

The Fredericksburg Nationals won their season-high fourth game in a row on Saturday night, prevailing 5-4 over the Carolina Mudcats in eight innings.

The Mudcats were poised to tie the game or take the lead with two runners on base and no outs in the top of the eighth inning, but a severe thunderstorm caused the delay and eventual end of the contest.

Karlo Seijas started for the FredNats, turning in 4.2 solid innings of work. For the second night in a row, the Fredericksburg offense struck in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Jeremy De La Rosa led off the inning with a single, took third on a Michele Vassalotti (L, 5-7) wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Darren Baker.

In the second inning, De La Rosa drove in a run with his second single of the night. With the bases loaded and two outs, Branden Boissiere delivered a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Mudcats pushed across a run in the third on a Noah Campbell sacrifice fly, but Juan Paulino answered with his first FredNats homer in the bottom half of the inning to give the FredNats a 5-1 advantage.

Seijas allowed three consecutive two-out singles to the Mudcats in the fourth, allowing a run on Darrien Miller’s RBI single. The Mudcats added two more runs in the fifth when Boissiere committed a throwing error, but Lucas Knowles (W, 1-1) fanned Micah Bello with the bases loaded to preserve a 5-4 lead. Knowles, making his first appearance in 60 games after a stay on the injured list, retired all seven men he faced.

Andrew Alvarez had a rocky FredNats debut, hitting both batters he faced to open the eighth inning, but rain chased the players off the field before the Mudcats could attempt to complete their comeback. After a delay of 55 minutes, the game was officially called.

The FredNats will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games as they play the finale of their series against the Mudcats on Sunday night. First pitch from FredNats Ballpark is scheduled for 6:05, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 5:50 on the FredNats Baseball Network.