The Down East Wood Ducks hit a pair of homers and took advantage of five Fredericksburg errors on Friday night, evening up the series at two games apiece with a 6-2 win over the FredNats.
Fredericksburg managed just three hits, but kept the game within reach until the middle innings. Dustin Harris, Thursday’s walk-off hero for Down East, kept his bat hot with an RBI single in the first inning to put the Wood Ducks ahead 1-0. The FredNats answered in the top of the second, drawing a pair of two-out walks before Kevin Strohschein laced a game-tying RBI single to left field.
The Wood Ducks pitching staff locked in from that moment on, as starter Tekoah Roby struck out nine batters in 4.0 innings and Marc Church (W, 1-0) backed him up with four more strikeouts over 2.0 hitless innings.
Alfonso Hernández (L, 0-1) kept pace until the fourth, when he uncharacteristically walked two batters and then allowed a three-run homer to Cristian Inoa to put Down East up 4-1. It was just the third home run that Hernández had allowed in his professional career, all of which have come in the past two weeks.
A dropped pop-up by Hernández, one of five FredNats errors on the night, allowed the Wood Ducks to extend their lead to 5-1 in the fifth. Jeremy Ydens hit his second homer in as many nights with a solo shot in the seventh, but Randy Florentino got the run right back for Down East with a homer of his own in the bottom half of the inning.
Tomás Alastre and Davis Moore pitched in relief for the FredNats. Josh Smith pitched the ninth for the Wood Ducks, locking down a 6-2 final.
The FredNats continue their series at Down East on Saturday as they look to clinch at least a split of their six-game series. First pitch from Grainger Stadium is scheduled for 6:00, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 5:45 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
