23 runs! FredNats beat Down East 23-8

The FredNats scored a franchise record 23 runs, racked up 20 hits – including five home runs – in a 23-8 bashing of the Down East Wood Ducks on Friday night in Fredericksburg. The team also set another franchise record with 13 runs scored in the 7th inning tonight. Will Frizzell homered three times, Cortland Lawson hit a grand slam for his first career professional home run, T.J. White homered and drove in four runs, and James Wood had four hits and four RBIs in the win. Wood drove in the first run of the game with a single in the 1st inning, part of five straight hits for the team to start the offensive attack for the FredNats. Frizzell hit his first three-run homer of the game in the 1st into the Down East bullpen, and then did the exact same thing in the 2nd inning to push the lead to 7-0 after two. He finished with 7 RBIs, the second-most in a single game by a player in the Carolina League this season. Down East scored four runs in the 4th and two runs in the 5th to claw back to make it a 7-6 game. A sac fly by White in the 5th and an RBI groundout for J.T. Arruda in the 6th made it 9-6, and then Down East scored twice again in the top of the 7th to make it a 9-8 game. Then, the FredNats had their best inning in franchise history. 13 runs, eight hits and two Down East errors in the inning. White hit his second homer of the series to start it off, a two-run shot. A single and two walks loaded the bases, and then a throwing error by the Down East pitcher at home plate allowed the third run to score. Then, Jacob Young came up and knocked a two-run single into left field to make it 14-8. After a double steal to put runners on second and third, Arruda hit a ball hard at the Down East second baseman that went through his legs, allowing both runners to score. A double by Wood after that scored Arruda to make it 17-8. At this point, the FredNats batted all nine guys without making an out in the inning. A single by White scored Wood, and then after back-to-back singles by Branden Boissiere and Geraldi Diaz, Lawson smashed his first career professional home run, a grand slam to left field to put the finishing touches on a 13-run inning. Frizzell hit his third homer of the night off a position player in the 8th for a 23-8 final. Young and Arruda both had two hits and two RBIs each, Wood went 4-for-6 with two doubles and four RBIs, Frizzell went 3-for-5 with three homers and seven RBIs, White went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs, and Boissiere, Diaz and Lawson each had two hits. Andry Lara (3-7) earned the win on the mound, pitching five innings, allowing three earned with five strikeouts and no walks. Kyle Luckham made his FredNat debut on the mound and finished the game with two scoreless innings.