Early Runs Push Pelicans to 6-3 Win over Nationals

By Sam Weiderhaft

For the third time this series, the Pelicans scored in the first inning as the Birds held on for a 6-3 win over the Nationals on Friday night. The win pushed the Pelicans’ record to 15-21 while the Nationals dropped to 24-13. Friday gave fans an opportunity to meet Bluey and Bingo from the popular children’s show “Bluey” as the crowd of 6,599 witnessed a Pelicans’ victory.

Andy Garriola (2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI) broke out of a cold streak with two extra-base hits and a pair of runs driven in. Leonel Espinoza (3-5) collected three singles and scored two runs. Reggie Preciado (1-4, 2B, RBI) provided an RBI double in the victory.

For the second night in a row, the Birds’ starter went 5 2/3 innings as Nick Dean (2-0) took the win with a shutout outing and just two hits allowed with a walk and four strikeouts. Garrett Brown allowed all three runs in his lone inning. Francis Reynoso picked up his second save with two strikeouts in the ninth.

The only RBI of the ballgame came from Elijah Green (2-4, RBI) on a single in the seventh. The Nationals were held to just five hits while going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Fredericksburg starter Jarlin Susana (0-5) took the loss with four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings off five hits and three walks. Samuel Vasquez allowed two more earned runs in his 1 2/3 inning outing.

The Pelicans took off with a three-run first. With runners on first and second, Alfonsin Rosario hit a single up the middle to bring in Espinoza from second for the first run. Garriola followed with a sharply hit ball down the first base line that scored two as Garriola got to third for a triple.

Three more runs came in for the Pelicans in the bottom half of the fourth. With runners on the corners, Preciado doubled on a line drive to left to extend the lead to 4-0. Vasquez threw a wild pitch to score another run and Cristian Hernandez reached on a fielding error at third base that scored the third run of the inning to extend the Birds’ lead to 3-0.

Fredericksburg scored all of their runs in the top of the seventh. With runners on second and third, Green hit an infield single to second to score the first run. A wild pitch by Brown brought home another run. Green later stole third and scored on a throwing error by catcher Frank Hernandez to third to make it 6-3.

The Pelicans and Nationals will meet for the fifth game of the series on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m.