Tonight began promisingly for the Freddies, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, jumping on Lynchburg, the Low-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, in the home half of the first.
Daylen Lile smacked his league-leading 20th double as the leadoff man, then Cortland Lawson walked behind him. Lile was picked off of second, but Sammy Infante doubled after that to bring Lawson in with the first run of the game. Infante swiped third base, and came in to score when Paul Witt lashed a single through the left side of the infield to make it 2-0.
Erik Tolman breezed through the first two frames, but ran into trouble in the third. Jordan Brown opened it up with a double, then immediately scored on the Lexer Saduy single after him. Juan Benjamin singled as well, then Angel Zarate cleared the bases with a triple to give the Hillcats a 3-2 edge. Robert Lopez then plated Zarate to make it 4-2.
Lynchburg kept the offense rolling in the fourth inning, against Pedro Gonzalez. Brown reached first on an E6, then Saduy singled, and Benjamin followed with an RBI knock to make it a three-run lead for the ‘Cats.
Angel Genao picked up another single after Juan Benjamin’s knock that was misplayed in left field, and turned into another bases-clearing triple to push the lead to 8-2.
The onslaught continued in the top of the fifth. Brown led off with a triple, and he immediately scored on a sacrifice fly. Juan Benjamin laced a one-out double, then Angel Genao rolled over, but an E6 allowed him to reach first, and Benjamin scored to push the edge to 10-2. After a Lopez single, Zac Fascia tripled to score both runs and give Lynchburg a 10-run lead, 12-2.
But the FredNats simply did not roll over in this one. Down 10 runs going into the bottom of the fifth inning, John worked a one-out walk. Lile then flew out to center for the second out. Lawson singled, and Sammy Infante got hit by a pitch to load the bases for Witt. He cut into the deficit with a two-run single back up the middle, then Blake Klassen doubled to make it a seven-run Hillcat lead.
Jonathon Thomas got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Wilmer Perez also got plunked to force a run in and make it 12-6. Christopher De La Cruz came up as the Freddies batted around, and drew a full-count walk. John McHenry also battled to a full count, before he laced a single into right field to score two more runs, and the FredNats pulled to within three runs thanks to a seven-run frame.
Matt Merrill worked a 1-2-3 top of the sixth, sending the Nats right back up to bat. Lawson picked up a two-strike single to start the home half, then Witt later doubled to put runners on second and third with one out.
Unfortunately, Fredericksburg could only scratch across one run on a Blake Klassen sacrifice fly. Despite trailing 12-2 at one point, the FredNats had clawed back to within a couple runs.
Merrill put up another scoreless half in the top of the seventh inning, but then the skies opened up. The rain was too heavy to continue, and the game was ultimately called as a 12-10 Lynchburg win.
Braunny Munoz got his fifth win of the year, and Erik Tolman was tagged for his first professional loss.
In the series finale tomorrow, Jose Atencio gets the nod for the Nats, against Zach Jacobs in a 1:35 start.
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Chris Graham
