Souza with the Homer, P-Nats Get a Win

Lynchburg, Va. –– The bats stayed white hot for Potomac in a 13-8 win over Lynchburg from City Stadium on Saturday night.

The P-Nats have scored 39 runs and are hitting .331 (50-151) as team during the current four-game winning streak.

A theme has developed with the hot hitting, and that’s fast starts. In a 14-6 win over Frederick on Thursday, the P-Nats scored nine runs by the end of the third inning. Last night in Lynchburg, the P-Nats scored three in the first. And tonight was nothing different, as a five-run third inning propelled Potomac’s bats for the rest of the night.

Entering the third Potomac had a 1-0. Jeff Kobernus jump-started the hitting with a single to right field. Number three hitter Destin Hood followed with the double that scored Kobernus all the way from first. J.P. Ramirez played copycat and doubled to score Hood. After a Sandy Leon single, Jose Lozada laced the third double of the inning. The fourth and final double of the inning came from Justino Cuevas. The two-RBI hit scored Leon and Lozada and gave the P-Nats a 6-0 lead. Justino Cuevas was just called up from extended spring training to replace infielder Francisco Soriano, who went on the DL.

A sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth from Destin Hood made it 7-0 Potomac. That’s when the game started to look like a basketball game – a game of runs.

The Hillcats answered the P-Nats 7-0 run with a 6-0 run of their own. Lynchburg scored four in the fifth and two in the sixth. In the fifth, the key hits came from Andrelton Simmons and Phil Gosselin. Simmons, the league’s third leading hitter in terms of batting average, knocked a two-RBI double, and Gosselin grabbed an RBI triple. In the sixth, both runs came home on a double from the number nine hitter, L.V. Ware.

Then it was time for the P-Nats to counter. They came with a 6-0 run to balloon the lead to 13-6.

The loudest of all the swings came in the bottom of the ninth, when Steven Souza slugged a solo shot over the left-field wall. The first baseman went deep for the second straight night and now has seven on the season. He also added two RBI, giving him 30 this year. He is now tied for first in the Carolina League with Buck Britton of Frederick.

P-Nats starter Trevor Holder picked up the win, improving his record to 2-5. The University of Georgia product was strong before running into trouble in the fifth and sixth innings. Overall, his final line was 5.1 innings pitched, seven hits and five runs. Holder’s best statistic continues to be his strikeout to walk ratio. Tonight he set down six Hillcats and walked none. On the season Holder has 30 Ks to four walks.

With wins from Wilmington and Frederick tonight, Potomac stays five games back of the second place Keys and seven games back of first place Wilmington. The first half ends exactly one month from tonight.

The P-Nats lead the season series with Lynchburg 3-1.

Potomac goes for the three-game series sweep tomorrow at 2:05 pm. The Nats toss RHP Paul Demny (1-3, 2.95) and the Hillcats go with RHP Cory Rasmus (0-5, 7.17).

-Press release