Riley Cornelio made his second start of the week, and after working his way out of trouble in the first inning, settled in very nicely. He kept the Riverdogs, the Low-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, scoreless through two innings, before Johnathon Thomas put the Freddies, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, ahead with a solo home run in the bottom of the third.
Cornelio worked three more scoreless frames, finishing up in the top of the fifth. All in all, Cornelio allowed just three hits and tied a career high with seven strikeouts in a masterful performance.
The FredNat offense added another run in the fifth. After two quick outs, Cortland Lawson reached on an E6 and Yoander Rivero doubled to put runners on second and third. After Tuda walked to load the bases, Charleston went to the bullpen and brought in Jeff Hakanson. But Hakanson walked Daylen Lile with the bases loaded, to put Fredericksburg ahead 2-0.
Paul Witt led off the sixth inning with a single back up the middle. Then with two outs, Branden Boissiere hit a screaming line drive off the wall in right field to score Witt from first base.
Charleston threatened in the top of the eighth, getting two runners aboard with two outs. Burt Franklin Marquez got Dominic Keegan to look at strike three, and end the rally.
Geraldi Diaz added an insurance run in the bottom half, with a solo bomb to right field which made it 4-0 Nationals.
Kevin Rodriguez came on for the ninth inning, and shut the door on a 4-0 win. That ended a two-week homestand for Fredericksburg, where they put together a 10-3 mark to re-enter the first half playoff race.
Next up for the Freddies is a two-week road trip, taking on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and then the Columbia Fireflies.
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Chris Graham
