FredNats storm back for 6-5 walk-off, series win

The Fredericksburg Nationals (12-9) defeated the Charleston RiverDogs (8-13) 6-5 on Sunday, April 27, 2025, securing a 4-2 series win. Jackson Ross hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to complete a late-game comeback before 4,007 fans at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. The FredNats now head to Salem, with game one set for Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

Here’s the full press release:

The Fredericksburg Nationals (12-9) launched another late-game comeback against the Charleston RiverDogs (8-13), winning 6-5 on Jackson Ross’ sacrifice fly in the tenth inning. The win, which saw the FredNats score four unanswered runs after the eighth, also secured a 4-2 series victory for Fredericksburg.

In front of a season-high 4,007 fans at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, Fredericksburg’s Davian Garcia and Charleston’s Janzen Keisel took the hill on a “Salute to Service Sunday” with the series on the line. Both pitchers were sixth-round selections in the 2024 MLB Draft and both struggled with command in their respective starts.

The FredNats got to Keisel in the second inning when the Oklahoma State product walked three to load the bases before Cristhian Vaquero smoked a double high off the right field wall, missing a grand slam by a yard. It was Vaquero’s tenth hit of the series and gave him his eighth and ninth RBI to put Fredericksburg up 2-0.

Garcia skirted around traffic with two pickoffs and a double-play ball in the first three innings, but couldn’t avoid damage in the fourth. After a leadoff double from Jack Lines, Charleston’s first hit, Garcia issued his fourth walk to set the table for the RiverDogs. With one out, Nathan Flewelling flipped a double the opposite way to score both runners and came home himself on an RBI single from Larry Martinez, giving Charleston a 3-2 lead.

The RiverDogs got to the FredNat bullpen after that in the sixth inning too, plating two runs off of Kevin Dowdell despite only one hit, extending their lead to 5-2.

After going scoreless for five consecutive frames, Fredericksburg got a golden opportunity again in the eighth. The RiverDog defense finally cracked as Jack Lines booted a Kevin Bazzell ground ball and Randal Diaz raced around the basepaths to score. Two batters later, a pop-up dropped on the infield before a Nate Ochoa single, loading the bases for Carlos Tavares with only one out.

Tavares, the youngest FredNat, came through in the clutch. He rattled a base hit into right field, scoring both Bazzell and Ross, tying the game at five apiece. As had happened so often in the series, Charleston’s mistakes in the field let Fredericksburg back in it.

Neither team scored in the ninth inning, sending Sunday’s contest to extra innings. After Charleston’s sacrifice bunt to move the automatic runner to third base, Flewelling pulled a ground ball to Tavares at first, who was playing in. The runner, Connor Hujsak, broke for the plate and Tavares made another phenomenal play, perfectly placing his throw to the plate to gun down Hujsak and ensuring Charleston wouldn’t score in the tenth.

That meant the FredNats needed just one run to win it and had Kevin Bazzell starting at second. The first batter of the inning, Jorgelys Mota, roped a base hit into right and Billy McMillon conservatively gave Bazzell the stop sign at third. Ross came up next with the game in his hands and was once again the walk-off hero. He had a walk-off home run in the FredNat home opener, but this time just needed to lift a fly ball to deep center field as Bazzell sprinted home to score.

Austin Amaral (1-0) got the win after pitching the tenth and Jonalbert Rumbol (0-1) got the loss. The FredNats have now won three straight to get to three games above .500 for the first time in 2025. They will head to Salem next week, with game one on Tuesday starting at 6:35.

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