Brandon Pimentel drove in a franchise-record eight RBIs as the FredNats stomped the Shorebirds 11-4 on Saturday night at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
Delmarva landed the opening blows, with a big first inning against Marc Davis. In his return from Tommy John surgery, Davis issued a pair of walks, then allowed a single to load the bases with one out.
Anderson De Los Santos then quickly unloaded the bases when he smoked a ball into the left-field corner, to put the Shorebirds up 3-0. Aneudis Morgan followed with an RBI to bring De Los Santos home, and extend the lead to 4-0.
Fredericksburg (2-0) managed to get one run back in the home half of the first, as Gavin Dugas singled and Pimentel doubled him home.
Davis settled in nicely after a rocky first inning, as he worked through the second and third innings without allowing a base hit. All together, Davis worked three innings with four earned runs, a pair of walks, and three strikeouts.
For the Shorebirds, starting pitcher Blake Money was in a groove after allowing a run in the first. The former LSU Tiger fanned seven Nats over four strong innings, without walking anyone. But once Money departed, the FredNat bats came to life.
In the bottom of the fifth, Roismar Quintana drew a leadoff walk against Jared Beck. Armando Cruz singled behind him, then a wild pitch allowed both baserunners to move up 90 feet. Nate Ochoa worked a walk to load the bases, but Beck struck out Cristhian Vaquero for the second out of the inning.
That brought up Gavin Dugas in a critical moment, with the bases loaded and two outs. He delivered for Fredericksburg, with a first-pitch single to plate Quintana and Cruz, bringing the Nats within a run at 4-3. Elijah Green then worked a walk to load the bases again, prompting a pitching change for Delmarva. They turned to Zane Barnhart, to face Pimentel. He fell behind 1-2, before blasting a bases-clearing double all the way to the centerfield wall which put the FredNats in front 6-4.
Delmarva managed to hold the Nats at bay in the sixth inning, but not in the seventh. Brayner Sanchez replaced Barnhart, and gave up a leadoff single to Vaquero, followed by back-to-back walks to Dugas and Green.
That brought up Pimentel with the bases juiced, and Sanchez fell behind him 3-0. With a green light to swing, Pimentel blasted a grand slam into the right field bullpen to make it a 10-4 FredNat lead. That blast made it an eight-RBI night for Pimentel, which set a new franchise record for Fredericksburg.
The Nats added one more run in the eighth, en route to an 11-4 win to secure the series victory. Jose Atencio picked up the win out of the bullpen, while Jared Beck was the losing pitcher for Delmarva. In the series finale, Travis Sthele (0-0, 0.00) takes the ball for the FredNats against Luis De Leon (0-0, 0.00).
First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.
