After a scoreless first, Augusta’s Jace Grady ripped a solo home run off of Luke Young in the top of the second inning.
But from there, Young settled into a groove. The right-hander retired nine straight batters after that, and went on to strike out eight men over six one-run innings.
However, Augusta’s starter, Jhancarlos Lara, was also extremely efficient. He allowed just two base hits through five innings, while punching out nine batters and walking just two.
But after Lara left, the FredNats, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, feasted against Estarlin Rodriguez in the sixth. Elijah Nunez and Dylan Crews each singled to open things up. Yohandy Morales then smoked a double to the left field wall to bring both men around, giving the Freddies a 2-1 lead. YoYo moved to third base on an Andrew Pinckney groundout, then Roismar Quintana brought him in with a sharp ground ball past the pulled-in infield to make it 3-1 Fredericksburg.
Jonathon Thomas pinch ran for Quintana, and immediately swiped second base. Max Romero Jr. then drove Tuda in with a bloop single to right, making it a four-run frame to jump ahead 4-1.
Orlando Ribalta entered in relief of Young, and struck out the side in the seventh inning. In the bottom half, Crews extended the FredNats’ lead to 5-1 with an RBI single back up the chute, and that was plenty of breathing room.
Thomas Schultz worked a scoreless eighth, and Marquis Grissom slammed the door in the ninth to preserve a 5-1 win for Fredericksburg.
Luke Young got the win, while Estarlin Rodriguez took the loss. In game three of six, Travis Sthele makes his home debut, against Riley Frey.
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Chris Graham
