Mudcats Surge Past Nationals 5-2 in Opening Day Contest!
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Photo via Carolina Mudcats on X
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April 4th, 2025
Zebulon, NC- The Carolina Mudcats (1-0) played host to the Fredericksburg Nationals (0-1) in a Friday evening contest. The Mudcats sent Jack Hostetler (1-0) to the mound who made his first career appearance in today’s game. The Nationals sent Bryan Polanco (0-1) to the mound who ended last season with a 4.06 ERA in 93.0 innings pitched. The Milwaukee Brewers no. 2 prospect Jesus Made made his first Low-A appearance in today’s game.
Fredericksburg struck in the top of the first with a Roismar Quintana sacrifice fly that scored Cristhian Vaquero that gave them a 1-0 lead. The Mudcats responded immediately in the bottom half with a 2 run home run by Braylon Payne which gave the Mudcats a 2-1 lead. The Mudcats increased their lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the 3rd when Braylon Payne scored on an error by Cristhian Vaquero. The Mudcats increased their lead to 4-1 later in the 3rd when Eric Bitonti scored on a Marco Dinges double down the left field line. Fredericksburg responded in the top of the forth when Kevin Bazzell scored on a hard hit infield single by Randal Diaz which cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Mudcats expanded the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the 7th when Luis Pena scored on walk by Filippo Di Turi. Eric Bitonti made 2 highlight plays in the top of the eight which kept the lead at 5-2. The Mudcats navigated around a 2 out walk to secure a 5-2 Opening Day win.
Jesus Flores threw 2 scoreless innings where he only allowed 3 hits.
Jack Hostetler received the win for the Mudcats for his 5 innings where he only allowed 2 run on 6 hits. Bryan Polanco received the loss for his 5 innings where he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits. The save went to Jack Seppings for his 2 scoreless innings where he only allowed 2 hits. Marco Dinges reached base 3 times before being removed in the bottom of the 7th after a hit by pitch. The Mudcats are back in action Saturday at 6:30pm against the Fredericksburg Nationals.
Manager Stanley met with the media after the game. When asked about the plays made by Eric Bitonti in the 8th Manager Stanley said:
“He’s a great athlete over there. He’s gonna make those plays, he takes pride in his defense and like I said he is a great athlete, so he’s capable of that.”
When Manager Stanley was asked about the performance of Marco Dinges he said:
“Yeah, I love where he is at mentally behind the plate, really engaging with learning how to catch and doing that everyday. I just like his mentality right now and I think that’s gonna show on the field.”
