Sunday Afternoon in Fredericksburg

Sometimes it helps to remember the mantra: “This is A ball.”

It started with the FredNats jumping out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back doubles and an error on a steal of third in the 1st. After a 1-2-3 first, starter Travis Sthele wobbled in the second for a run on leadoff walk, which we all know, always comes back to bite you in the [gluteus maxmius] to give back one run.

Then in the 4th, the Shorebirds got back-to-back-to-back doubles (well, maybe one of them was a single and an error, if you’re inclined to be be a tough scorer) to take a 3-2 lead. Though the stadium gun seemed “cold,” Sthele was almost pitching backward, using the fastball to set up his secondary offerings, which weren’t all that much slower.

He finished with three runs on four this and four walks over five innings with no strikeouts. Sthele threw 65 pitches to 20 batters and only 34 were strikes.

Meanwhile, the Fredericksburg bats went AWOL as 15 batters went down in order after the first batters got on in the 1st, seven by way of the K. After Mikey Tepper, who appears to favor steak and eggs vs. Life cereal, walked two and threw two past Jose Colmenares for a 4-2 deficit in the 6th, that early 2-0 lead seemd even further away.

But this is A ball.

Delmarva walked Tyler Baca, the #9 hitter, to lead off the 6th. Phillip Glasser got his second double to push him to third. John McHenry flew out to shallow center but a poor throw enabled Baca to score and Glasser to move up to third. Cristhian Vaquero tapped a weak grounder to second base and a another errant toss to the backstop allowed Glasser to tie the game at 4-4.

An inning and a half later, Tepper walked his fourth and fifth batters and appeared to throw it away… until the umpires ruled runner interference that effectively turned the game from the FredNats down 5-4 with runners at second and third to two on and two out. Sammy Vasquez came on to get the third out.

Then, in the bottom half, the Shorebirds fell apart: Two hit batsmen, a fielder’s choice, a two-run single, a two-run double, a triple lost in the sun and suddenly, a 4-4 nailbiter became a 10-4 blowout (or blowup, depending on your point of view).

Vasquez worked around a single in the top of the 9th to close out the game and pick up the win and complete the three-game sweep.

Fredericksburg hits the road for Lynchburg this week for six night games and a day game on Sunday. The tireless TBD is penciled in as Tuesday’s starter.