Wood Ducks jump on FredNats early–cruise to win

The Wood Ducks took an early lead in game five and never looked back, winning 9-4. JoJo Blackmon opened the top of the first inning with a clean double, then Abi Ortiz immediately singled to drive Blackmon in with the first run of the game. A groundout pushed Ortiz to second, where he then scored from on a Miguel Villaroel single. Gleider Figuereo reached on an E4 that let Villaroel score, before Yosy Galan singled to plate Figuereo to make it 4-0 Wood Ducks after just a half inning. Down East kept the pressure up in the second inning, as Abi Ortiz cranked a solo home run to right field. Villaroel singled with one out, and later scored to make it 6-0 Woodies. They added another run in the top of the fourth which pushed the edge to 7-0. With the FredNats down seven, Elijah Green and Branden Boissiere both singled with one out to put runners on the corners. Zion Pettigrew drove the Nats first run home with a well placed single through the right side. Matt Suggs followed Pettigrew, and launched a triple into the right field corner. But a wild throw from Down East let Suggs pop up and dash home from third with a three-run Little League home run, pulling the Nats to within three runs. However, Fredericksburg struggled to string together much offense after that. Down East added two more runs, en route to a 9-4 win. Aidan Curry got his first win of the year, while Jose Corniell locked down a save and Jose Atencio took the loss. Mason Denaburg gets the ball in the series finale for the Nats, against DJ McCarty for Down East in a 6:05 start time.