‘Birds Bash Early, Hold on Late To Defeat FredNats

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - After surging out to an early lead, the Delmarva Shorebirds survived a late surge and defeated the Fredericksburg Nationals 7-3 on Friday night at FredNats Ballpark.

A day after the Shorebirds (43-32) were held scoreless for the first seven frames, they went to work in the second inning against the Nationals (25-51).

TT Bowens walked to begin the inning and a Jean Carmona single coupled with an error in centerfield put runners at second and third. Ryne Ogren brought home Bowens and advanced Carmona to third before Yorkislandy Alvarez scored Carmona with a groundout. Trevor Kehe restarted the rally with a line drive single to center with a subsequent wall-ball double from Willy Yahn scoring Kehe to make it 3-0.

In the fourth, Alvarez singled with one away before Kehe doubled him over to third. Yahn produced a sacrifice fly to center to plate Alvarez and put Delmarva ahead 4-0.

Jean Carmona doubled down the left field line to begin the sixth with Ryne Ogren following with a line drive single to put runners at first and third. After a flyout, Kehe walked to load the bases. Yahn then came through again for the Shorebirds, knocking a liner to left, plating two more, to extend the lead to 6-0.

The Shorebirds tacked on one more in the seventh. Darell Hernaiz walked to begin the inning and after a strikeout Carmona rocked a ground-rule double to put two in scoring position. Ogren then produced his second sacrifice fly of the game to score Hernaiz and make it 7-0.

The FredNats rallied in the ninth and plated three runs before bringing the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded. Jake Zebron got Ricardo Mendez to fly out to left however to end the contest and secure the 7-3 win.

Houston Roth (6-1) picked up his team best sixth win of the season for Delmarva with five shutout innings. He allowed just two hits while walking three and striking out four.

Karlo Seijas (3-9) absorbed the loss for the FredNats after allowing four runs on six hits and a walk, striking out three.

Yahn’s four RBIs represented his first RBIs of the season for the Shorebirds. Carmona finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored while Kehe chipped in with two hits, including a double. The three sacrifice flies for the Shorebirds represent a season high.

The FredNats were silent until the ninth, but Onix Vega provided the only RBI hit of the game for the home side, an RBI single.

The Shorebirds will try to lock up at least a series split on Saturday, July 31 against the FredNats. Griffin McLarty (1-6, 5.21) starts for Delmarva against Michael Cuevas (0-3, 4.71) for the FredNats. First pitch is scheduled 6:05 p.m. from FredNats Ballpark with pregame coverage beginning at 5:50 p.m. on Fox Sports 960 AM as well as streaming online on the IHeart app with Sam Jellinek. MiLB.TV coverage will be provided by the FredNats.

ABOUT THE DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS

The Delmarva Shorebirds were founded in 1996 and have been the Class-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles since 1997. The Shorebirds have won two South Atlantic League championships in 1997 and 2000 and were named the MiLB.com Minor League Team of the Year in 2019 after going 90-48 in the regular season. Based in Salisbury, Maryland, the Shorebirds are proud to represent the entire Delmarva Peninsula and have hosted two SAL All-Star Games in 1999 and 2011. The Shorebirds are owned by 7th Inning Stretch, LP, based in Stockton,California headed by Chairman Tom Volpe and President Pat Filippone.