P-Nats Fall Short of Series Sweep

By Will Flemming
For PotomacLocal.com

Woodbridge ,Va. –– The P-Nats dropped the series finale with the Dash 7-2 on Friday night at Pfitnzer Stadium. Despite the loss, Potomac took two out of three from Winston-Salem to win the set.

Nationals starter Cameron Selik had a bookend type of night. The righty struggled early and late during his outing, but was able to throw well in between. From the second through fifth inning, Selik didn’t give up a run and only allowed three hits.

Meanwhile, the P-Nats played tremendous defense behind the San Diego native. Jeff Kobernus made the highlight play of the evening. In the top of the third with nobody out and a runner a at first base, Dash right fielder Jose Martinez slapped a ground ball to the hole between second and first. Kobernus glided to his left, dove to the ground, and gloved the ball. Then Kobernus rolled to a seated position and threw to shortstop Francisco Soriano at second for one out. Soriano made the quick turn and threw to first for the double-play.

On the mound, Selik’s best inning came in the top of the fifth when he retired the Dash one-two-three. His troubles came in the top of the first and in the top of the sixth. In the first, Tyler Saladino led off the game with a home run. In the sixth, the first four batters reached base before he was removed in favor of Marcos Frias. Ultimately, the Dash scored five runs in the sixth and led 6-0. Selik’s final line was five-plus innings pitched, nine hits, five earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts.

Offensively, Potomac was held in check by Joe Serafin. The lefty from Connecticut tossed seven innings of two-run baseball and won his first game of the year. Serafin didn’t give up those two runs until the bottom of the eighth. Cutter Dykstra, Brian Peacock, and Francisco Soriano strung together a walk and back-to-back singles to open the eighth and put the P-Nats on the board for the first time. Serafin was then pulled for Leroy Hunt. Hunt eventually gave up an RBI single to third baseman Justin Bloxom, which scored Brian Peacock. The run was charged to Serafin because he allowed Peacock to reach base. The game was 6-2 at that point.

The Dash tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth when first baseman Andy Wilkins demolished a pitch down the right field line to make it 7-2. It was the lefty’s 13th home run of the season and puts him in second place in the Carolina League, behind only his teammate Ian Gac, who has 19.

Joe Testa had a strong performance out of the bullpen tonight for Potomac. The New Jersey native came on in the eighth and struck out the side. He now has 17 strikeouts on the season and owns a 1.33 ERA.

Potomac starts a four-game series with Wilmington tonight at the Pfitz. First pitch is at 6:35.

Will Flemming is the Broadcast Director for the Potomac Nationals.