Potomac drops key division game to Frederick

By Robert Daski

Published: August 13, 2008

Potomac Nationals manager Randy Knorr sat at his desk, quietly packing his bag for his team’s trip to Myrtle Beach.
One by one, he threw a piece of clothing into the satchel while explaining his team’s shoddy performance on Wednesday.
“Sometimes you just don’t make the plays,” Knorr said sternly.
Potomac’s mistakes included three errors in the nine-inning game, an 8-6 loss to the Frederick Keys.
There was a dropped fly ball by center fielder Francisco Plasencia, which led to an unearned first inning run.
Shortstop Michael Martinez committed two errors. He failed to secure a routine ground ball, which opened the door for the Keys to score five unearned runs in the eighth inning. He did not catch the soft line drive by Mike Pierce, who was safe at first base as Martinez picked up the ball and threw to first.
Frederick also headlined the game by stealing five bases.
With the game tied at three, Frederick’s Ryan McCarthy began the eighth by hitting a ground ball toward center field. Martinez ranged to his right, but the ball slipped under his glove. McCarthy was safe at first.
After Brandon Snyder singled to put McCarthy at second, McCarthy stole third, a move helped when Potomac catcher Jhonatan Solano failed to get the ball out of his glove.
Chris Vinyard walked to load the bases with no outs.
Two batters later, McCarthy scored on Brandon Tripp’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly and the Keys led 4-3.
Chris Amador singled to score Snyder and Vinyard scored on Todd Davison’s single.
Danny Figueroa’s two-run single rounded out the eighth inning scoring.
Potomac (70-52 overall, 28-24 second half) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth. But Keys relief pitcher Ryan Rodriguez struck out Stephen King, who represented the tying run.
In the clubhouse after the game, Solano gave his take on Potomac’s disappointing day.
“I didn’t feel the energy in the dugout,” Solano said. “Errors are a part of the game. Everybody makes an error. We need more communication in the game.”
Potomac’s offense awoke in the third inning as Martinez scored on Andrew Lefave’s groundout. Boomer Whiting scored the second run on Dan Lyons’ double.
The Nationals tied the score at three in the fourth when Martinez singled to score Solano.
But the Nationals’ offense was quiet in the fifth through eighth. Only one runner, Martinez, reached second base during that span and was stranded after Plasencia flied out and Lefave struck out looking.
Martinez was 3 for 3 and Lyons went 2 for 3 with two doubles and a run scored. Boomer Whiting scored two runs as well.
Nationals relief pitcher Andrew Kown took the loss, dropping to 0-2.