ZEBULON, NC — The Fredericksburg Nationals punched their ticket to the Carolina League Championship Series Thursday night with a 5-2 win over the Carolina Mudcats. Fredericksburg awaits the winner of the Kannapolis-Charleston series.
Seaver King staked the FredNats to an early lead, with his RBI groundout in the top of the first inning to drive home Brenner Cox.
Armed with a one-run lead before he took the field, Travis Sykora was electric. The righty fired five scoreless innings to protect that 1-0 edge, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out nine Mudcats. Sykora sent down the final 12 men he faced and exited with a one-run lead after five innings.
As playoff games go, Carolina did not roll over. They tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning against Bubba Hall, on an RBI grounder from Juan Baez, then Marco Dinges put the Mudcats up 2-1 with an RBI double down the left-field line.
Elijah Green wasted no time in his at-bat to begin the seventh, hammering a first-pitch, no-doubt homer to left, bringing the Nats level at 2-2.
Alexander Meckley was tremendous out of the FredNat bullpen, facing the minimum over the seventh and eighth innings to keep the game tied.
In the top of the ninth, Green got hit by a pitch then stole second base, before Seaver King and Caleb Lomavita each walked to load the bases with no outs. Carolina went to the bullpen for a fresh arm, but Jack Seppings fired his first pitch to the backstop, and Elijah Green dashed home to break the tie.
Kevin Bazzell kept the line moving with an RBI single to make it 4-2 Nats, then Brandon Pimentel tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, as the FredNats handed Anthony Arguelles a 5-2 lead for the bottom of the ninth.
Carolina rallied and managed to load the bases with two outs, but Arguelles induced a tapper right back to him, and he took it to the bag himself to secure a 5-2 Nationals victory. Meckley (1-0) got the win on his line, Jeison Pena (0-1) took the loss, and Arguelles earned his first postseason save. This was the first playoff series win for the franchise since moving to Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg will play for the Carolina League Championship beginning on Sunday against the winner of the Charleston-Kannapolis series. Games 2 and 3 (if needed) will be played at Virginia Credit Union Stadium on Sept. 17 and 18, respectively.
