Myrtle Beach, SC - The Fredericksburg Nationals ended their four game losing skid tonight with a 6-3 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The FredNats got back to back home runs in the 5th from Hunter Hines and Juan Cruz, they never looked back from there.
For the first time this series, the FredNats took the games first lead. After going down in order in the 1st inning, Rafael Ramirez hit a one out single in the 2nd, then was brought home on an RBI double from Elian Soto, his 10th RBI of the year to make it 1-0.
After threatening in the 3rd and 4th but not bringing any home, the offense exploded in the top of the 5th. Gavin Fien led off the inning with a single. Luke Dickerson followed him up with a soft hit into centerfield. Then, Hunter Hines hit his 6th homer of the year in just 21 games, down the line in right, to give Fredericksburg a 4-0 lead. The next batter, Juan Cruz, hit a home run into left-center field to make it 5-0. It was the 5th time this season that Nationals batters have hit back-to-back homers.
On the pitching side, it was another strong performance from RHP Travis Stehle. He has now started his Single-A season with 23.2 scoreless innings. Today, Stehle had his best strikeout stuff of the year, fanning five. RHP Leuris Portorreal was the first arm out of the bullpen. He was great, throwing 4.1 innings, striking out five, helping out the bullpen which ran out of arms the last two nights. Gus Hughes then came in and got the final five outs.
With the in, the FredNats get back to .500 in the second half. They’ll look to get back above .500 tomorrow as RHP Marlon De La Cruz gets the start against RHP Braylon Myers. First pitch from Pelicans Ballpark is set for 7:05 PM.