FredNats Pitching Struggles Late in 17-4 Loss To Kannapolis

Fredericksburg, V.A. - The Fredericksburg Nationals couldn’t take advantage of an early lead, falling 17-4 to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in the series finale.

On the first pitch of the bottom of the 1st inning, Coy James gave the FredNats the lead with a 456 foot blast into straightaway centerfielder. It’s the 19th homer of the season for James who is now just one away from the FredNats career home run record.

After the James homer, the Kannapolis offense woke up. In the top of the 2nd, Christian Gonzales hit an RBI double to tie the game. An inning later, the Cannon Ballers put up a three spot to take a 4-1 lead.

The FredNats responded in the bottom of the 4th, as Gavin Fien hit his 10th home run of the season to make it 4-2. With Fien reaching double digits, he becomes the 6th FredNat to hit 10 or more. It’s the first time in the franchies 48 year history that six players have hit double digit home runs. In the bottom of the 7th, the FredNats started to rally, with back to back singles from Hunter Hines and Kevin Made to start the inning. A double play got two outs quickly, then Dashyll Tejeda singled to bring Hines across and make it a one run game at 4-3.

In the next frame, Cesar Rojas came out to try and keep it close, but struggled immensely, giving up any chance at a comeback effort.

With the loss, the FredNats drop back to five games below .500 in the second half. They’ll look to bounce back next week, with a series against the Delmarva Shorebirds, a team Fredericksburg is 15-3 against this season. First pitch in the series opener at Perdue Stadium is set for 7:05 PM on Tuesday.