PHOTO BY JOHN WACHER
The Salem Red Sox are back home this week for a six game series with the Fredricksburg Nationals, a Washington farm team. The Sox opened the series with a 9-5 loss on Tuesday night.
The Sox were in Hickory, North Carolina last week, splitting six games with the Crawdads. Salem got off to a good start with a 12-6 series opening win followed by a 4-0, 10-inning, shutout victory on Wednesday. Brandon Clarke, Shea Sprague and Matt McShane combined to hold the Crawdads to just four hits while striking out 11. McShane got the win with an inning and a third of work while Salem scored all four runs in the top of the 10th highlighted by RBI doubles from Franklin Arias and Yoeilin Cespedes, the one-two hitters at the top of the order.
Three straight losses followed as Salem fell 8-0 on Thursday, 6-4 on Friday and 6-5 on Saturday. They finally broke loose Sunday with a 19-1 rout of the ‘dads on get-away day, leaving Carolina with an 8-13 record.
Salem pounded out 13 hits on Sunday, including three by Antonio Anderson and two each by Starlyn Nunez, Yosander Asencio and Karim Ayubi. Anderson, Asencio and Frederik Jimenez all homered for the Sox and Nunez had a triple.
Meanwhile, Fredricksburg has opened the season at 12-9 before coming to Salem this week. The Sox and Nationals will play 6:35 pm games through Saturday with a 1:05 pm start Sunday. Friday is Teacher Appreciation Night, with fireworks after the game, and Saturday is Metallica Night with a special Metallica themed t-shirt going to the first 750 fans.
