Fredericksburg Nationals roll past Augusta Greenjackets, 11-3, on Saturday

Five runs in the sixth inning proved to be the knockout blow in a 11-3 win for the Fredericksburg Nationals over the Augusta Greenjackets on Saturday.

It was a hot start for Fredericksburg, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, taking a lead in the bottom of the first inning. Jonathon Thomas was hit by the very first pitch of the frame, then stole both second and third base.

Yohandy Morales dug in with one out, and lifted a sacrifice fly to right, deep enough to plate Tuda from third base.

Later in the frame, a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Marcus Brown. He rolled a 3-2 pitch to second base, but it snuck under Will Verdung’s glove and two more runs came in to score.

Augusta, the Low-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, opened up the top of the third with a double from Cam Magee and a single from Jace Grady to put runners on the corners with no outs. A walk loaded the bases, then PO Boucher bounced a ball to first that got Magee home from third base to make it 3-1.

Fredericksburg got that run back in the home half of the fourth. With two outs, Dylan Crews smoked a single into center, and Morales laced his second triple of the season to bring Crews around to score.

The fifth passed without a run, before the GreenJackets pulled within two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Kade Kern reached second base on an E4, and EJ Exposito followed with a liner back up the middle to drive Kern in.

But in the home half, Fredericksburg got things rolling. John McHenry walked, Wilmer Perez got hit, then Tuda singled to load the bases for Crews. After taking strike one, Crews chopped a ball over second base to drive in both McHenry and Perez, which pushed the lead out to 6-2 Fredericksburg.

YoYo followed that up with an RBI double, and Andrew Pinckney racked up a fourth consecutive hit which drove two more runs in, as the Nats broke the game open with a five-run frame to lead 9-2.

Crews was not done for the night after the sixth, as he clubbed a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 11-2 Freddies. Augusta got one run back in the eighth on a solo shot from Exposito, but the FredNats held on for a 11-3 victory.

Riley Cornelio earned the win, and Adam Shoemaker fell to 0-7 with the loss.

In the series finale tomorrow, Liam Sullivan toes the slab for the Nationals, against Lucas Braun.