Jackson Rutledge pitched six innings of two-run ball for his third win of the month, Will Frizzell homered for the tenth time as a FredNat, and the team picked up an 8-4 win over the Delmarva Shorebirds in the series opener in Fredericksburg.
The FredNats wasted no time getting going once again, scoring twice in the 1st inning on RBIs from T.J. White and Branden Boissiere. Cortland Lawson drove in a run with an RBI single in the 2nd as well, and it was 3-0 after two.
Delmarva scored twice in the 4th against Rutledge to cut the lead to 3-2, but that was as close as the Shorebirds would get. An RBI double from Jared McKenzie and an RBI single for Geraldi Diaz in the 4th made it 5-2, and then an RBI groundout for Trey Lipscomb in the 5th made it 6-2.
The Shorebirds got one back in the 7th, but then in the bottom half of the inning, Frizzell hammered his 10th home run of the year on top of the manual scoreboard in right center field. After that, McKenzie drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single, and the final was 8-4.
Rutledge (7-6) pitched six innings for the third straight start, and for the seventh time this year. He walked two and struck out seven. Cody Greenhill and Marlon Perez finished off the win in relief for the FredNats.
With Carolina’s loss, Fredericksburg’s magic number to clinch the second half championship in the Carolina League North is down to eight. The two teams will resume the series Wednesday.
