Finally! FredNats Earn First Win After Slow Start

The following story appeared in the June 2021 edition of Gus' Gazette, the official gameday magazine of the FredNats.

As the Fredericksburg Nationals entered play on May 21, they were the talk of minor league baseball. And not for a good reason.

The FredNats had begun their inaugural season 0-15, the longest losing streak to start a team's first year in baseball history. As the losses mounted, so did the scrutiny from the rest of the baseball world.

As ugly as 0-15 was, the underlying numbers weren't much better. Through their first 15 games, the FredNats had a run differential of -115. In other words, they were losing their games by an average of almost eight runs per game. Their batting average, earned run average and fielding percentage were the worst among all 120 minor league teams.

Despite all that, manager Mario Lissón didn't get down. As the leader of a young club, his optimism and perspective kept the players focused on what they could control.

"We've been talking a lot," said Lissón on the afternoon of the season's 16th game. "Through our working day before the game, I think the attitudes are great, everybody kind of has that energy and everybody's really trying to get out of this ... it's those first two innings, when we're down, when those thoughts are coming back."

In the long history of minor league baseball, only a few teams have suffered through a season-opening losing streak of Fredericksburg's magnitude. The record for affiliated clubs is the Leesburg A's of the Florida State League, who started 0-16 as an Athletics farm team in 1968.

If you dip into the murkier waters of unaffiliated minor league clubs, things get more interesting. For instance, the 1913 Newport News Shipbuilders went 0-18 as their team owner was committed to a mental institution. The 1954 Jackson Generals supposedly went 0-26 before folding their team amidst a 1-44 start, but record-keeping from that era of minor league baseball is lacking in detail.

With the specter of Leesburg's affiliated record looming, the May 21 game against the Salem Red Sox took on added importance. Looking for any glimpse of good luck they could find, the team ditched their nice, new home uniforms for their more spartan batting practice jerseys.

The hometown fans had supported their team through the slow start, selling out every game in the opening homestand at 30 percent capacity. With a team-record 2080 fans in attendance, Karlo Seijas took the mound against the Red Sox looking to put the team on his back.

That's exactly what Seijas did. The righty worked effectively and efficiently, scattering three harmless singles over 7.0 shutout innings. He struck out eight batters and didn't walk anyone, needing only 81 pitches to become the first pitcher in the Low-A East to complete seven innings.

The Fredericksburg offense didn't do much against Salem starter Aldo Ramirez, but managed to scratch across two runs on an RBI single from Jeremy Ydens and a wild pitch. They took a 2-0 lead to the top of the ninth, as Lucas Knowles entered trying to lock down the win.

The first two outs came easily enough, but with only one out to go pinch-hitter Gilberto Jimenez looped a double into the right field corner. The next batter, Nick Northcut, blasted a pitch to the warning track in left-center for another double, scoring Jimenez and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.

Red Sox catcher Alex Erro could have tied the game with a base hit to the outfield, but Knowles dug in. He struck out Erro on a breaking ball in the dirt, and the FredNats could finally celebrate a 2-1 win, their first in team history.

It was a moment that put the FredNats on the map again, as followers from around the country tuned in for the final moments of the exciting game. National outlets shared the last out as an outpouring of support rolled in.

The FredNats lost the next two games, but looked like a completely different team on their next road trip. They took four of six from the first-place Down East Wood Ducks, lifting themselves out of the cellar and beginning their long journey back to the middle of the pack.

The curse, such as it were, had been lifted. The FredNats had finally arrived.