After dropping two games in a row to Kannapolis, the FredNats needed someone to step up. That someone was Jacob Young. The outfielder and leadoff man hit a go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the 8th inning to power the FredNats to a 7-5 win over the Cannon Ballers on Saturday night at Virginia Credit Union Stadium in front of over 4,000 fans
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The FredNats struck first in the bottom of the 1st inning when Brady House drove in the first run since his return, an RBI groundout to score Young to make it 1-0.
Kannapolis bounced right back in the 2nd against FredNat starter Andry Lara. After Lara got Ivan Gonzalez to strike out swinging in what should have ended the frame, the ball bounced away and Wilfred Veras came home to score the tying run. Lara did have the rare distinction of recording four strikeouts in one inning on the next batter, but the game was tied at one.
Top White Sox prospect Wes Kath gave the Cannon Ballers the lead for the first time in the 3rd when he poked a two-run homer the opposite way. It was 3-1 Kannapolis at that point.
Young came around to score again in the bottom of the 3rd when Jeremy De La Rosa drove him in with an RBI single. It was De La Rosa’s league-leading 29th RBI of the year and 12th against Kannapolis.
The FredNats took the lead back in the 6th. After a hit-by-pitch, a single and a walk, the bases were loaded. Geraldi Diaz got hit by a pitch to drive in House to tie the game, and then Junior Martina hit a sacrifice fly to score Steven Williams and give the FredNats the lead back at 4-3.
Kannapolis wouldn’t go away quietly, scoring two runs in the 7th to take the lead back at 5-4.
In the 8th, the FredNats got the rally going. Leandro Emiliani tied the game with an RBI single to score Williams, and then Young came up with two outs and two men in scoring position and ripped a base hit to right field.
Jack Sinclair got the win and pitched beautifully in the final 2.1 innings, only allowing three hits and no runs. He moves to 2-1 on the year.
Lara got the start and had a solid outing, going five innings and allowing five hits and three earned runs with nine strikeouts. He also didn’t walk a batter.
The FredNats will look for the series split tomorrow and will try to keep their streak of not losing any series so far this season alive at 1:35 p.m. with Brendan Collins on the mound.
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Chris Graham
