Potomac wins in 12 innings

By Robert Daski

Published: July 31, 2008

Trevor Lawhorn’s 12th inning single scored Francisco Plasencia to give the Potomac Nationals an 8-7 win over the Winston-Salem Warthogs on Thursday at Pfitzner Stadium.
Plasencia led off the 12th with a triple.
The Warthogs then intentionally walked Dee Brown and Andrew Lefave to load the bases.
Lawhorn took the first pitch he saw from Warthogs relief pitcher Steve Spurgeon and hit it into left field.
Plasencia crossed the plate for the winning run.
The Nationals (65-44 overall, 23-16 second half) have won five straight and have two consecutive come-from-behind victories. 
Potomac rallied from a 7-4 deficit with three ninth inning runs. A single by Dan Lyons brought home Jhonatan Solano. Aaron Seuss scored when Michael Martinez grounded out to shortstop. Lyons crossed the plate with the tying run on Dee Brown’s single.
Potomac relief pitcher Martin Beno showed no command in pitching one third of an inning.
He walked four batters, threw two wild pitches and hit one batter in the eighth inning.
He gave up three total runs.
Beno threw 26 pitches, seven strikes. He at one point threw nine straight pitches out of the strike zone.
Beno was pulled after walking Adam Ricks, one that allowed Freddie Thon to score Winston-Salem’s final run.
Josh Wilkie entered and retired both hitters he faced in the eighth. Wilkie also pitched a perfect ninth.
The performance of Nationals starting pitcher Jeff Mandel was good, not great.
He gave up two home runs and eight hits in five innings. But he was not plagued by control issues as he issued no walks.
Joe Persichina’s home run gave Winston-Salem a 1-0 second inning lead.
The Nationals countered with two runs in the bottom of the second. Solano scored on Brian Finegan’s double.
Finegan went to third base when Warthogs center fielder Estee Harris did not cleanly field the ball Finegan hit.
Finegan scored on Michael Martinez’s single.
Harris tied the game at two with a home run in the top of the third. Solano’s single broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the third as Lefave scored.
Lefave singled home Brown with Potomac’s fourth run in the fourth.
The Warthogs trimmed Potomac’s 4-2 lead to 4-3 in the fifth when Billy Killian came home on Dale Mollenhauer’s triple.
Nationals relief pitcher Jack Spradlin entered in the sixth. His first pitch hit Winston-Salem’s Brett Bonvechio, who went to first.
Salvador Sanchez doubled to bring home Bonvechio to tie the game at four.
Warthogs starting pitcher Anthony Carter did not have his best stuff either. He lasted only three innings, walking three and giving up six hits.