Last Night in Fredericksburg

The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass all the time — Catfish Hunter

After nearly blowing an 11-0 lead on Tuesday, and two walkoffs on Wednesday and Thursday, the other shoe finally dropped as the FredNats lost to Hickory, 5-4 to stop a seven-game winning streak.

Perhaps it’s a testament to this team that it was even this close, given that the ‘Dads pitchers piled up 19 strikeouts and didn’t give up an extra-base hit until the 9th inning. That’s when Eli Willits hit his 7th double with two out to get into scoring position with a chance to tie it and Luke Dickerson, who fanned three times, drew a walk.

With another hit they could tie it, with another double they might have been able to walk off for the third time this series. Alas, Coy James was unable to pull the hat out of the rabbit and struck out to end it.

Early on, Hickory posted a picket fence from the 2nd to the 4th to take leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before the Nationals tied it in the 6th on a Sir Jamison Jones sac fly and took the lead in the 7th on a Dickerson two-out RBI single.

Leuris Portorreal was knocked from the box in the third and gave up the first two runs – one earned, thanks to a Dickerson error playing centerfield (this was bound to happen with 17 shortstops on the roster, give or take) while Levi Huesman gave up the next two.

Jared Beck was summoned in the 6th and settled things down for two innings. He faltered in the 8th, giving up two to turn a 4-3 lead into the losing score of 5-4. It was Beck’s first loss of the season.

The two teams wrap up their one and only series this afternoon, with Xander Meckley taking the hill for Fredericksburg against Jesus Lafalaise for the Hickory.