Last Night in Fredericksburg

The FredNats used the longball, drew eight walks, and struck out nine times on offense but got justenough pitching to wing the Woodpeckers, 6-4 on Saturday night.

Marlon De La Cruz made his eighth start but struggled with his command all game long. He had but one clean inning out of four and needed 76 pitches to get 12 outs as he walked five, hit a batter, and struck out two.

Using a 3/4 motion, De La Cruz worked with a fastball-slider-changeup repetoire. The heat was as high as 97, the slider in the high 80s, and the changeup ranging from 78 to 82mph. While still listed at his teenage weight of 155, the 20-y.o. appeared to be at least 30 if not 40 or 50 lbs heavier, much of it in his legs and trunk.

Meanwhile, Fredericksburg got solo HRs from Coy James in the 1st and Brady Cerkownyk in the 2nd before all three batters struck out in the 3rd. In the 4th, Jordan Williams got the first of his two singles on the night while Cerkownyk got his second hit to push Williams to second.

After Rafael Ramirez drew the second of his three walks, Nick “Power to the” Peoples smacked an opposite-field homer for a grand slam to give the FredNats a 6-2 lead.

Alas, the Fredericksburg bats went silent after the 4th, with Williams’s second single rounding out the hit column of six.

Merritt Beeker would give up two hits (one HR) and walk a batter over the next three. That should have been good enough to win handily, but Austin Amaral made things interesting in the 9th as he put four runners on base and let in one.

With two out and the bases loaded, Coy James nearly threw the game into extras with a throw that Hunter Hines needed to stretch his 6’3″ frame to the limit and snare the third and final out. Let’s just say it’s a good thing there’s no replay at this level.

With the win, the FredNats take a 3-2 series into this afternoon’s finale. Xander Meckley is slated to take the hill for Fredericksburg against Fayetteville’s Charlie Weber.