The Fredericksburg Nationals and Columbia Fireflies split a doubleheader to wrap up their six game series, with Columbia taking four of six games on the week.
In the first game, the FredNats got on the board in the second inning. Wilmer Perez singled, then Cortland Lawson blasted a triple off the wall in right field. It was a very close play at the plate, but a nifty slide from Perez allowed him to score and put the Nats ahead 1-0.
The Fireflies responded in the top of the third though. Junior Calderon worked a walk then advanced to second base, before Levi Usher stroked a double to tie the game at 1-1. After another walk, Brett Squires unloaded on the first pitch of the AB for a three run home run to put Columbia ahead 4-1. On Saturday night, weather ultimately forced the game to be suspended and subsequently resumed on Sunday afternoon.
After the resumption, the Fireflies bullpen locked things down. They held Fredericksburg silent the rest of the way, en route to a 6-1 win.
Then in game two, the FredNats lineup came out guns blazing. Right away in the bottom of the first, Jonathan Thomas walked and stole second base, and Cortland Lawson singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Daylen Lile then laced a single into right field to drive in Tuda, putting the FredNats up 1-0. Sammy Infante followed with an RBI on a fielder’s choice, before Roismar Quintana and Murphy Stehly drove in runners with RBI groundouts.
The offense stayed hot in the second inning. Zion Pettigrew led off with a triple, then Tuda got him across on a sacrifice fly. Cortland Lawson doubled after that, and Daylen Lile collected his second RBI in as many innings with another single to push Fredericksburg ahead 6-0. Lile swiped second base and alertly moved to third on a fielder’s choice, before Elijah Green knocked him in with another RBI groundout to make it a 7-0 edge.
That was plenty of cushion for starter Cole Henry, who was making his second appearance of the week in a rehab assignment. The right-hander fired four scoreless frames with six strikeouts and no walks, showcasing the dominant stuff that had gotten him to Triple-A Rochester.
Brett Squires got the Fireflies a run in the sixth inning with a towering solo home run to right field. But in the bottom half of the frame, a pair of bases loaded walks gave the FredNats a 9-1 edge which turned out to be the final score.
This week, he Nationals travel to Salem, VA, to begin their first series of the year against the Salem Red Sox.
