Last Night in Columbia

This year’s baseball road trip was a swing through the Carolinas with the obligatory stop in Salem to start things off. That it coincided with a FredNats game was purely happenstance. The attraction was seeing a new park, not necessarily the game, which was good because while the park was nice, the game was not.

Fredericksburg took an early 1-0 lead in the 1st when Coy James walked, stole second, and scored on a two-out double by Juan Cruz. The FredNats extended that to 3-0 with another stolen base and another two-out clutch hit, a two-run single by Gavin Fien.

But while the offense was clicking early, it was apparent that Grant Manning would not be long for this start. Sure, he’d wriggled out of jams in the 1st and 2nd, but needed 38 pitches to do it – even with a 1-2-3 second inning.

The wheels came off the bus in the 3rd. Columbia broke through with a double, a grounder to the right side, a walk, and an RBI single to center. Another walk loaded the bases. And then things got ugly.

Dashyll Tejada charged the bloop single that followed and did not field it cleanly as it dribbled past him, allowing all three runs to score and turning the hit into a Little League triple. The next batter placed the same hit to the same place for an RBI single that capped off the five-run rally.

Sir Jamison Jones answered with a solo HR in the top of the 4th, but that’s as close as the FredNats would get, as the Fireflies got two more in the 4th to extend the lead to three for the eventual 7-4 final. Fien singled three batters later and tripled with two out in the 9th. In between, Fredericksburg drew two walks and struck out seven times on a 13-K night.

With the loss, Fredericksburg falls to 6-5 in the second half but remains tied for first with Wilson and Fayetteville.