CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Sox and Nats Split Marathon Doubleheader

Published on April 10, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Woodbridge, VA - More than twenty-one innings in over seven hours. Not your ordinary Friday night at the ballpark.

Salem and Potomac each emerged 1-1 after a wild Friday evening and Saturday morning at Pfitzner Stadium. The Sox broke a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning of game one when Oscar Tejeda connected on a two-out, two-run double, giving Salem a 6-4 advantage they would not relinquish. In game two, the clubs battled for 14 innings before the Nationals earned a 2-1 triumph on Nick Arata's game-winning single in the last of the 14th. Potomac used two position players as pitchers in the extra innings, and Robert Jacobsen, who caught the first 13 innings, earned the victory on the mound with a scoreless frame for the Nats.

Although 14 inning baseball games are quite uncommon, game one might have been just as unorthodox as game two. Considering rain wiped out play in the second inning on Thursday, the two teams resumed the season opener at 5:30 on Friday, embarking on a back-and-forth tilt. The Nationals scored once in the last of the eighth to tie the game at four, but Tejeda's second hit of contest drove in a pair in the top of the ninth. Up 6-4, Kyle Fernandes completed a successful three inning relief stint by retiring the side in the ninth to earn Salem its first win of 2010.

Tejeda, Peter Hissey, and Tim Federowicz each went 2-5 in the opener, while Will Middlebrooks went 1-3 with two walks and two runs scored.

Following a 30-minute intermission, game two commenced with Brock Huntzinger and Marcos Frias dealing a duel. The Nationals scrapped a run on a walk, stolen base, and single in the last of the first. In a quick response, Salem countered when Will Vazquez singled home Ryan Lavarnway in the top of the second. Little did everyone know that the offenses would go silent for the better part of the next dozen innings.

Blake Maxwell tossed three and a third scoreless frames, Leandro Marin blanked the Nats for two innings, and William Latimer did not allow a run in his first three innings of work. But a quartet of Nationals relievers were matching the Red Sox staff goose-egg for goose-egg. Cole Kimball, Jessie Estrada, center-fielder Nick Moresi, and catcher Robert Jacobsen combined to pitch eight and two-thirds scoreless for Potomac. Moresi, who played center-field in game one and had been DHing in game two, took over on the mound in the 12th and struck out two in his two innings of work. He also connected on a bloop double in the bottom of the 12th, yet was stranded in scoring position by the Nats, who went just 2-14 with runners in scoring position.

With one out in the last of the 14th, Brian Peacock, who entered the lineup as a catcher only to take the place of the previous backstop Jacobsen, who was now pitching, drilled a double down the left field line. One batter later, Arata singled up the middle, bringing home Peacock and giving the victory to the Nationals.

Lavarnway went 2-4 for the Sox in the second game, but Salem was limited to just seven hits in the nightcap.

The Red Sox and Nationals head back to the ballpark on Saturday evening for a 6:35 first pitch in game three of the four-game weekend set. Fabian Williamson gets the nod for Salem against Patrick Lehman for Potomac.

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Carolina League Stories from April 10, 2010


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