James' Four RBIs, Dickerson's Two Double Day Give FredNats 8-3 Win Over Hill City

LYNCHBURG, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals rebounded from their first loss of the season with a wire-to-wire win Thursday night, taking game three from the Hill City Howlers 8-3.

Wasting no time to get the office running, two errors would get the FredNats in gear in the first, as they scored four runs, highlighted by a Yeremy Cabrera double. An inning later, Coy James would add his second and third RBIs, scoring Cabrera and Luke Dickerson on a single. James’ stat-stuffing night wasn’t done either, as he added an RBI double in the fourth, bringing his total to 4 RBIs in the first four innings of the game. Overall, the FredNats added two runs to their lead in the second, and then two more in the fourth, with James’ efforts complemented by two doubles and a walk in the first three plate appearances for Luke Dickerson.

FredNats Opening Day starter Leuris Portorreal was strong again in his second outing, once more working around a solo home run in the fifth to twirl a FredNat season high 4.1 innings in a start, only allowing the lone run. Entering the bottom of the seventh, the FredNats led 8-1.

Hill City then jolted the offense in the seventh for the second straight night, getting the bases loaded and scoring two runs off Jacob Roberts, before Cesar Rojas entered the game and limited the damage for Fredericksburg, who led 8-3 going to the eighth. After a quiet inning and a half, Rojas walked two in the ninth, before Johan Otanez entered in relief inducing a double play to end the game.

The FredNat win improves the record to 5-1 to start the season, and with Thursday’s Myrtle Beach loss, ties the FredNats for the best record in the Carolina League, along with the Pelicans and Salem RidgeYaks. Game four of the series is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m., with LHP Nolan Hughes set to make his second start against RHP Jacob Zibin.