Nick Peoples 8th Inning Home Run the Difference in 9-6 FredNats Win

Fredericksburg, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals broke through their losing skid tonight, taking down the Fayetteville Woodpeckers 9-6. Nick Peoples was the hero, coming through with a go ahead homer in the 8th inning to give Fredericksburg the win.

It was a strong start for the FredNats who finally scored first, after failing to do so in the previous four games. In the bottom of the 2nd, the FredNats put together a five run inning. Dashyll Tejeda and Elian Soto got the party going reaching on free passes. The FredNats only had one RBI hit that came from Manny Cabrera, but were still about to jump up 5-0.

RHP Travis Stehele was excellent again, throwing five scoreless innings to begin his outing, before getting pulled with a runner on first base that scored to end his almost 30 inning streak without allowing any earned runs to start his Single-A season. With the southpaw Merritt Beeker in the game, the Woodpeckers finally found success on offense, putting together three hits in a row to score four and even the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the 6th. Fayetteville then jumped in front on a Josh Wakefield RBI groundout that brought home DJ Newman and it was 6-5 going into the bottom of the 7th.

Luke Dickerson came through with a massive RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th. In the bottom of the 8th, Elian Soto and Brady Cerkownyk both singled before Nick Peoples hit a three run home run to put the FredNats on top 9-6.

With the win, the FredNats move back within two games of first place of the Carolina League North Second Half standings. They’ll look to make it back to back wins tomorrow as LHP Levi Heusman starts against RHP Jagger Beck. First pitch from Virginia Credit Union Stadium is set for 6:35 PM.