FredNats season stands at 1-1 after 7-4 loss Saturday night

Lynchburg opened up a lead in the top of the first inning, and never relinquished it as the Hillcats secured a 7-4 win over Fredericksburg. Jarlin Susanna struggled in his first start of 2023. The tall right hander walked the leadoff man, then allowed a single to Wuilfredo Antuñez to put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly plated Lynchburg’s first run, before a walk and a wild pitch allowed Antunez and Pres Cavanugh to reach third and second base respectively. From there, Susanna balked in one run, and allowed Manuel Mejias to drive in another with a single into left field. Fredericksburg answered right back in the home half of the first, as shortstop Armando Cruz rapped a single back up the middle to plate Brenner Cox. But in the top of the second, Jarlin Susanna let another runner score on a wild pitch which once again gave the Hillcats a three-run edge. With two outs in the second, Roismar Quintana jumped on the first pitch he saw and smacked it into right field, then dashed to second on a wild pitch. That put him in scoring position for Branden Boissiere, who delivered with an RBI single back up the middle to make it 4-2 Lynchburg. After a scoreless third and fourth, Lynchburg’s Lexer Saduy picked up a one-out single. An errant pickoff attempt saw Saduy take two extra bases, and he then scored on a wild pitch from Luke Young. Later in the same inning, Nate Furman picked up his third base hit of the night, an RBI double to give the Hillcats a 6-2 lead. Jose Pastrano tacked on another run with his RBI single in the top of the seventh. After the seventh inning stretch, the FredNats began to rally. Max Romero Jr. worked a leadoff walk, then Quintana reached on a fielder’s choice with Romero safe at second. Branden Boissiere got plunked to load the bases, then Sammy Infante battled to a full count and drew a bases loaded walk to force in a run. Armando Cruz added one more run with his RBI ground out, but the Freddies couldn’t tack on any more runs. The Hillcats bullpen shut the door from there, putting up zeroes in the eighth and ninth to secure a 7-4 victory. Zachary Jacobs earned the win for the Hillcats, with Samuel Vasquez locking down his first save of the year, while Jarlin Susanna was saddled with the loss. Pablo Aldonis gets the nod for the FredNats in tomorrow’s rubber match, against Alonzo Richardson. First pitch is at 1:35.