Three straight wins for the FredNats

The FredNats picked up their third straight win over the Salem Red Sox on Friday night, winning by a final score of 8-5. The Red Sox did get on the board first, as Ahbram Liendo walked and stole second, then advanced to third on an E1. Yorberto Mejicano drove him home with a sacrifice fly later in the frame, but Bryan Sanchez limited the damage to just one run. Fredericksburg got a leadoff double from Murphy Stehly in the top of the third, which pushed his hitting streak to 14 games. Armando Cruz bunted him over to third base, then a wild pitch allowed Stehly to dash home to tie the game at 1-1. But in the home half of the fifth, Salem retook the lead on another wild pitch to make it a 2-1 deficit. From there, the FredNat offense found a second gear. Daylen Lile singled to open up the sixth and stole second base, then both Paul Witt and Elijah Green walked to load the bases with no outs. A wild pitch allowed Lile to score, then Murphy Stehly came through with a single to drive Witt home, giving the Nationals a 3-2 edge. Armando Cruz grounded into a 6-4-3 twin killing later in the frame, which pushed Green across to make it 4-2. Salem pushed a run across in the bottom of the sixth, but the Nats countered in the top of the seventh inning. Sammy Infante got hit by a 3-2 pitch, then stole second base and advanced to third on an errant throw from the catcher. Paul Witt continued his hot week with an RBI single to make it 5-3, then later on Branden Boissiere plated Witt with a sacrifice fly to go ahead 6-3. Salem battled back to add a run in home half of the eighth, pulling within two runs at 6-4. But once again, Fredericksburg answered. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the ninth, when Murphy Stehly drove in a pair of runs to make it a 8-4 Nats lead. The Red Sox plated one more run in the bottom of the ninth, but the FredNats held on for a 8-5 victory. Mason Denaburg earned the win with Luke Young locking down the save, while Luis De La Rosa took the loss. In game five tomorrow evening, Bryan Caceres takes on Luis Perales at 6:05 p.m.