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CarL1 Potomac Nationals

P-Nats Plate Eight Late to K.O. K-Tribe

September 7, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


WOODBRIDGE, Va- As Tim Pahuta snared the final pop fly of the 2009 season for the Potomac Nationals, the entire team poured out of the dugout with jubilant expressions on their faces. Not only had the team won their final game of the year, scoring eight late runs against the Kinston Indians, but they had finished off a series victory as well.

With Kinston still fighting for their playoff lives, needing a victory and a loss from the Salem Red Sox to force a one-game playoff, there was still much at stake on Pfitzner Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Will Atwood got the nod on the hill for the P-Nats and the South Carolinian surrendered four runs (three earned) on eight hits in five innings, most of that damage being done in the top of the first.

The K-Tribe got the ball rolling in the first frame on the strength of three consecutive extra-base hits to score a pair of Indians as the visitors put a three-spot on the board before the Nats had a chance to bat.

The P-Nats scratched out a run when Danny Espinosa singled to right to drive in pinch-runner Greg Veloz with the team's first run.

With the score 4-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, things were looking rosy for the K-Tribe who were looking to avoid missing the playoffs for back to back seasons.

But after Bryce Stowell came out to open the inning by allowing two baserunners, the P-Nats mounted a four-run rally to take the lead from the Indians.

Stowell actually had an incredible outing for the Indians, striking out eight batters in just 3 1/3 innings, including four punchouts in the fourth inning, but he was on the mound when the Nats mounted their comeback.

Boomer Whiting knocked in a run on a looping single to right field, and Michael Martinez drove in another with a single to center to cut the lead to a single run at 4-3. With David Roberts (2-5) on the mound and Espinosa, former college roommates at Long Beach State, at the plate, Espinosa lined a triple down the right-field line to tie the game at four apiece.

Michael Burgess then strode to the plate two batters later and blasted a run-scoring double off the left-field wall to give the P-Nats a lead they would not relinquish.

They would add on in the eighth, scoring three on a Jesus Valdez bases-clearing double over the head of the centerfielder Adam Davis, and Tim Pahuta knocked in another on a single to center to put the game out of reach at 9-4.

The P-Nats still have not lost a finale since becoming the Potomac Nationals in 2005.

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