P-Nats blast Mudcats

Behind a great start from Alex Meyer, the Potomac Nationals beat the Carolina Mudcats 7-5 at the Pfitz to capture a four-game series.  Steven Souza Jr. reached base all four plate apperances including a monster two-run homer to pace of the P-Nats offense.

The Nationals opened the scoring against Carolina RHP Michael Goodnight in the first inning.  With two out, Matt Skole hit a double.  He was driven on a majestic two-run homer by Steven Souza Jr. that cleared the batters eye in dead center field.  The fourth home run for Souza Jr. with Potomac made it 2-0 in favor of the Nationals after an inning.

The P-Nats added another in the second.  Jason Martinson reached on an error and was driven in by Jeff Howell on a double to increase the advantage to 3-0 for the Nationals.

The Mudcats got on the board in the third against P-Nat starter RHP Alex Meyer.  Todd Hankins led off the inning with a double.  He moved to third on a sac bunt and scored on a Tony Wolters sac fly to bring Carolina within 3-1.  But a Ricky Hague RBI single in the bottom half of the third got the lead to three again at 4-1.

Potomac added two more in the fourth on a Blake Kelso two-run single scoring JP Ramirez and Stephen King to bring the lead to 6-1 for the Nationals.

Goodnight (2-13) took his Carolina League leading 13th loss of the season going six inning giving up six runs with five earned.

Potomac added a run in the seventh inning with Jason Martinson registering his 105th RBI of the season on a bases loaded single to make the game 7-1.

Meyer (3-2) got the win by tossing six quality innings giving up just one run.  He only threw 74 pitches striking out three and scattering five hits.

Aaron Barrett put up scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth striking out two.

However Rob Wort ran into trouble in the top the ninth with a 7-1 lead.  A pair of runs made the score 7-3.  Tony Wolters hit a two-run homer to bring the Mudcats within 7-5.  Justin Toole singled to bring the tying run up.  But Wort retired the final two batters of the contest to secure a 7-5 Potomac victory.

Souza Jr. reached on all four plate appearances to lead the Nationals attack.  Every Potomac player reached base. The Mudcats didn’t record a 1-2-3 inning until the eighth against the Nationals.