RiverDogs Bite Back, Take Game Two over FredNats
April 23, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Fredericksburg Nationals News Release
FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals (9-8) saw their usually-dominant bullpen allow four late runs to the Charleston RiverDogs (7-10) in a 6-2 loss on an Education Day at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
The first pitch was thrown at the bright and early time of 11:05 a.m. by Bryan Polanco with a crowd of over 3,000 local students in attendance on field trips from school. Polanco, the FredNats Opening Day starter, gave them a good showing in his fourth start of the year.
The Fredericksburg righty fought through some early traffic to finish four full innings, giving up just one run. He stranded the bases loaded in both of the first two innings, with the only run against him scoring on an RBI walk with two outs in the second inning.
His offense got the run back quickly in the bottom of the second when Nick Peoples tripled and his fellow outfielder, Nate Ochoa, brought him in when his single up the middle split the drawn-in defense. At the end of four innings, the game was tied at one apiece.
The FredNat bullpen, which entered the day with a 2.99 ERA, struggled through the next five innings. Kevin Dowdell allowed a run in his two innings of work, while Robert Cranz and Ryan Minckler each allowed two in an inning apiece. In total, five of the six Charleston runs were scraped across against the Fredericksburg relievers.
After the second inning, the only run the FredNats scored came when Cristhian Vaquero hooked a triple off the right field wall to score Carlos Tavares in the fifth. Despite the loss, Vaquero had a strong day at the plate, going 3/5 with an RBI.
Cranz (1-2) got the loss, with Charleston reliever Owen Stevenson (1-0) walking into the win after facing just one batter.
In game three on Thursday, the FredNats pit Alexander Meckley (1-1, 5.56) against Trevor Harrison (1-1, 4.50) for a 6:35 start.
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