Fredericksburg, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals picked up their second win in a row tonight, beating the Salem RidgeYaks 10-9 in a potential game of the year. The fireworks started early, as Jack Moroknek hit a moonshot home run to put the FredNats on the board in the second inning. Moroknek ended up finishing the night a triple shy of the cycle.
The home run was just the start. In the fourth, with the team down 2-1, Jacob Walsh and Jack Moroknek both crushed line drive RBI doubles to put the FredNats up 3-2 in the 4th. That lead was short-lived, though, as in the top of the 5th, the RidgeYaks had their best offensive inning of the game, scoring four runs to go up 6-3. Later that inning, Eli Willits demolished a ball to the deepest part of the park that hit off the top of the wall. The Nationals top prospect made it to third with a triple and cut the deficit to two.
In the bottom of the 6th, the FredNats put together their biggest offensive inning of the game, scoring four, with the highlight being Jacob Walsh’s two RBI single to bring him up to three RBIs on the night. Eli Willits walked twice with the bases loaded in the 6th, then in the 7th, to put the FredNats up 10-8. As expected, with how this game had gone, the RidgeYaks weren’t done just yet on offense, scoring one in the 8th and putting two runners on in the 9th, but Cesar Rojas shut the door for his second save of the season as Jacob Walsh made an incredible diving catch for the final out.
The win keeps the FredNats in first place of the Carolina League. They’ll look to win the series tomorrow as Mikey Tepper gets his second start of the week. First pitch in the series finale is at 1:35pm at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.