Fredericksburg, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals were swept for the first time this season as they fell to the Hill City Howlers 10-7 in the series finale.
It was another tough start for the FredNats. Just like in the first two games of the series, the Nationals gave up the games first run. For the second time in three games, it was in the top of the first. Dauri Fernandez leadoff the game with a walk, before scoring on a Luis De La Cruz RBI single.
The FredNats bounced back right away. In the bottom of the 1st, Juan Cruz hit 9th homer of the season, a two run shot, to make it 2-1. That lead didn’t last for long though. In the top of the 3rd, the Howlers plated five. RHP Marlon De La Cruz got the first two outs pretty quickly, but then allowed six batters to reach in a row without a hit. It was 6-2 Hill City after the 3rd.
In the bottom of the 6th, the offense finally got going again. Luke Dickerson hit a solo home run off of Angel Perez who was fresh out of the bullpen to cut the deficit to three. But, in the top of the 7th, Luis De La Cruz hit a solo homer to bring the Hill City lead back up to four. He then walked with the bases loaded in the 8th to bring the lead up to 5.
It took some time, but in the bottom of the 8th, the FredNats started to rally. Coy James retook the team HR lead with a solo shot. Then after Luke Dickerson walked, Juan Cruz and Rafael Ramirez hit back to back RBI doubles to cut the deficit to two. With two outs, Jordan Williams kept the rally going with an RBI hustle double to make it 8-7. The momentum was halted right away as Hill City hit back to back homers to start the top of the 9th.
With the loss, the FredNats get swept in a series for the first time this season and for the first time since the start of 2025. They’ll look to turn things around next week against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The series gets underway on Tuesday at 6:35 PM at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.