Dateline: Browns Chapel
It was a pleasant afternoon as the Nationals took the field agains the AL league leading Mariners.
The Nationals went down quietly in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Shane got the first batter to popup to Joseph T. at second for out one. A walk and an error at short put runners on at first and second. A long fly to center landed for a double to score two runs. Shane struck out the next The AAA Mariners jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Mariners got things going after a double and then added more runs after another RBI double. Shane settled down and struck out the next runner and the last batter popped out to Michael who made a nice catch at third.
Top of the second and the Henry came up with two outs and drew a walk. CJ singled to move Henry to second. A wild pitch put Henry on third. CJ then was caught in a run down while stealing second but the Henry scored before the out and the Nats were on the board. Shane went back to the mound and got one quick strikeout. A walk and an infield hit put runners on at first and second. An overthrow while a runner was stealing third resulted in a two runs. Shane struck out the next batter. With two outs Henry came on and walked a batter but got the next batter to popout to the left of the mound where Henry made a nice catch. After two it was 4-1 Mariners.
Top of the third and the Nationals went to work. Michael led off and was hit by a pitch. Joseph G. walked. With one out, the runners advanced on a wild pitch. Anthony beat out on an infield single to second base to score Michael. Kahlil walked and Jake smashed a double to left center to score Anthony, and Joseph G. Frankie singled to score Kahlil. Bottom of the third and the Mariners led off with two triples. A couple of walks and singles and some errors in the field resulted in four runs. So both teams scored four in the third and the score was Mariners 8 Nationals 5.
Top of the fourth and Shane, DJ singled. Henry singled to score Shane. With the bases loaded and no outs the Rangers settled down and got three strikeouts. Bottom of the fourth and Frankie came on and struck out the first batter, got the second batter to ground out back to the mound and the last batter struck out. After four it was 8-6.
Bottom of the fourth and with two outs Anthony, Kahlil and Jake singled, but the Nats couldn’t pick up an RBI and the Frankie went back to the mound if the fifth. He got one out with two walks and a strikeout and Jake came on to face the Mariners 3,4,5 hitters. The first drove a triple to right to score a run. Jake settled down and struck out the next two batter. Top of the sixth and the Nats had two outs when Henry singled. CJ grounded out to the mound to end the game. Final Score: Mariners 10 Nationals 6.
Coach Grossman said, “I was really happy with our hitting, we had ten hits on the day and Henry did a great job getting two of them. We had some problems with team defense, but we are getting better each week. I really liked how our pitchers looked on the mound. We’ll be ready for our game on Monday. ”
