10-Run First Lifts Nats to 14-8 Win

LYNCHBURG, VA - A 10-run first inning set the tone early for Fredericksburg, as they improved to 5-0 with a 14-8 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats.

Phillip Glasser got the night started quickly, with a leadoff homer to right-center field. Gavin Dugas and Cristhian Vaquero both drew walks after that, then Elijah Green roped a single into left field to double the lead at 2-0. From there, Lynchburg’s starting pitcher Jackson Humphries fired a wild pitch, followed by another two walks to force in a run. This prompted a pitching change, without a single out being recorded in the frame.

Jake Berry entered with the bases loaded and no outs, and immediately walked Armando Cruz to make it 4-0 Nationals. Brenner Cox then cracked a two-run double down the right field line, pushing the lead to six runs. John McHenry made it 7-0 with a sacrifice fly, before Cristhian Vaquero delivered the big blow with a three-run home run well beyond the wall in left field.

Lynchburg got one run back in the home half of the first on a Ralphy Velazquez, but Fredericksburg’s bats stayed dialed in. Roismar Quintana opened the top of the second inning with a triple, and Armando Cruz brought him home with a sacrifice fly to make it a 10-run lead for the Nats again. Then in the third, John McHenry reached on an error before Gavin Dugas doubled off the wall in left-center, extending the advantage out to 12-1 Nationals after two and a half innings.

The Hillcats got a solo home run in the fourth from Manuel Mejias, and an RBI single by Juan Benjamin later in the inning to get within eight runs. The comeback bid continued in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Lynchburg manufactured another run, cutting the FredNat lead down to 12-5. However, the Nats added another run in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk, and Vaquero’s RBI triple in the seventh put the lead back up to nine runs, 14-5.

Lynchburg’s Ralphy Velasquez crushed his second home run of the night, a three run shot in the eighth inning, to pull the ‘Cats within six. But Thomas Schultz fired a clean ninth inning to wrap up a 14-8 FredNat win. Samuel Vasquez was the winning pitcher for FXBG, and Jackson Humphries took the loss for Lynchburg. In game three, Fredericksburg will send the lefty Gabriel Agostini to the hill, against fellow southpaw Alex Clemmey in a 6:30 start.