CarL1 Potomac Nationals

P-Nats Flex Muscles, Power Past Kinston

Published on July 11, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


KINSTON, NC- A night after the Kinston Indians dispatched the Potomac Nationals 6-1 on a muggy night at Grainger Stadium, the P-Nats returned the favor Saturday night behind a solid performance from Will Atwood and a power display that has been missing in action from the Potomac attack. The P-Nats would club four home runs en route to an 8-4 victory in game two of their three-game series with the Kinston Indians.

In a case of turnabout being fair play, the K-Tribe started a reliever on the mound after the P-Nats gave reliever Adam Carr the ball to start the game on Friday night. Holt would toss two scoreless frames to begin the contest but ran into trouble in the third.

Tim Pahuta greeted Holt rudely with a leadoff double to the right-center field gap, and Dan Lyons sacrificed Pahuta to third. Dan Nelson, hitting leadoff for Trent Jewett's ballclub, hit a towering two-run home run, his fifth of the year, to dead center field to give the P-Nats their first lead of the series at 2-0. Nelson would enjoy a huge day at the plate going 4-for-5 to raise his average to 271.

Four batters later, with two runners on base, Chris Marrero would send a Holt offering into orbit with the ball landing deep beyond the left-field fence for a three-run home run, his 12th of the season, to push the P-Nat advantage to 5-0. Marrero came into the game with a .444 average in seven games against the K-Tribe, and that number will increase considerably with his 3-for-5 day.

Will Atwood would be the beneficiary of the outburst of offense as the South Carolinian southpaw pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs on five hits. The lefty is now 3-1 in his last four starts and is making a case for a spot in the top of the P-Nats' rotation.

The Indians would mount a mini-rally in the seventh inning against Atwood as two consecutive hits put runners on the corners with nobody out, and a sacrifice fly would plate the first Kinston run. They would add another when Cole Kimball could not corral a throw on the second half of a double play ball that would have ended the inning. Atahualpa Severino would come in to a bases-loaded, two-out jam and coax a ground ball out of Roman Pena to end the inning with the P-Nat lead still at 5-2.

The K-Tribe would continue to mount a rally in the bottom of the eighth, plating two more runs on an RBI ground out and a wild pitch to trim the Potomac advantage to 5-4.

Tim Pahuta would get one of those runs back, however, leading off the ninth inning with a booming home run to right field to make it 6-4. Pahuta's good friend, Dan Lyons, would follow with a home run of his own, completing the back end of back-to-back jacks, the second such time the P-Nats have done so in 2009. The other came back on June 28 as Devin Ivany and Aaron Seuss would complete the feat against the Winston-Salem Dash.

Michael Burgess would add a broken-bat RBI single to drive in Nelson to make it 8-4 and give the P-Nats a season-high 15 hits in a game.

Severino would toss the final 2 1/3 innings to shut the door on the K-Tribe to give the P-Nats the victory in game two of this three-game set.

Francisco Plasencia would line a single to right field in the eighth inning to extend his league-leading hitting streak to 18 games, tied for the second longest streak in the Carolina League this year.

These two teams will meet in the rubber game tomorrow afternoon from Grainger Stadium in Kinston. First pitch is slated for 2 ET, and you can catch all the action live on www.potomacnationals.com with Dan McGinn and Anthony Masterson starting with the pregame show at 1:45 ET.

There are still spots available for the Potomac Nationals Baseball Camp from July 27-29, and the deadline to sign your child up is July 24. Give your kids the chance to gain professional instruction from your favorite P-Nats players and coaches.

For more information on the Baseball Camp, tickets, daily promotions, and all things P-Nats, call (703) 590-2311 or log onto www.potomacnationals.com to join the party!

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Carolina League Stories from July 11, 2009


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