The offense continued to click for the Potomac Nationals (16-18, 53-48), as they secured a series victory with a 10-3 win over the Carolina Mudcats (18-16, 52-52) on Saturday night.
In front of a crowd of 6,812, the sixth sellout of the year, 2B David Masters led the way with a three-hit night, part of a 10-hit night for the Potomac offense.
Falling into an early 1-0 deficit, The Red, White, & Blue struck for two runs in their first trip to the plate. With CF Jack Sundberg on first, SS Luis Garcia connected on his first home run in the Carolina League to give The P-Nats a 2-1 lead.
More run support for LHP Ben Braymer (W, 6-3) came in the bottom of the third, a five-run frame. 1B Aldrem Corredor drove in two with a double down the right field line, doubling the run total for Potomac. Masters blew the game open with a three-run home run, scoring Corredor and DH Telmito Agustin to give the P-Nats a 7-1 lead.
Braymer allowed just the first inning run in the win, striking out five and walking four en route to victory. His counterpart, RHP Braden Webb (L, 5-8), struggled in defeat. The Mudcats starter only spanned 2.2 innings, giving up seven runs (all earned) on six hits, walking four batters along the way.
LHP Matthew Crownover came on in the sixth, his second appearance out of the bullpen this season, and cruised through his first two innings of work. Carolina forced Crownover out of the game in the top of the eighth, as the first four Mudcats reached with a base hit, including an RBI single from CF Ryan Aguilar. RHP A.J. Bogucki entered with the bases loaded and no outs and struck out the side, allowing just one run to score on a bases-loaded walk.
Potomac capped off the 10-run night with two runs in the eighth. Masters singled and moved to third on a walk and a fly out, setting up an RBI sacrifice fly from 3B Ian Sagdal. C Tres Barrera picked up a double to score Sundberg, pushing the lead to the 10-3 final score.
Potomac will finish off the five-game home stand in search of a sweep of the Carolina Mudcats. In game three, RHP Kyle Johnston (1-1, 5.54) will take the ball for The P-Nats. Johnston picked up his lone win with the Nationals back on July 11th in Lynchburg, his first Carolina League start. The Mudcats will send RHP Alec Bettinger (1-1, 2.36) to the hill, looking to avoid the sweep. Carolina has one each of the last four games that Bettinger has started.
First pitch at Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium on Sunday is set for 1:05pm. The Potomac broadcast will get underway at 12:50pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show. You can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com, at http://bit.ly/P-NatsBroadcast, or on the TuneIn Radio App.
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