
Photo via Carolina Mudcats on X
July 8th, 2025
Zebulon, NC- The Carolina Mudcats (10-5) played host to the Fredericksburg Nationals (10-6) in a Tuesday evening contest. The Mudcats entered tonight’s contest 1.5 games ahead of the Fredericksburg Nationals in the second half North Division standing. The Mudcats sent Wande Torres (1-6) to the mound who entered tonight’s game with a 5.67 ERA in 46 innings pitched. The Nationals sent Alexander Meckley (4-6) to the mound who entered tonight’s game with a 4.65 ERA in 62 innings pitched. Eric Bitonti entered tonight 1st in the Carolina League with 13 home runs during the 2025 season.
The Mudcats struck in the bottom of the first when Braylon Payne scored on a wild pitch that gave the Mudcats a 1-0 lead. Then, the Mudcats added another run when Jesus Made scored on a sacrifice fly by Filippo Di Turi which expanded the Mudcats lead to 2-0. The Nationals responded in the top of the third when Kevin Bazzell scored on a single to center field by Randal Diaz which cut the deficit to 2-1. Then, Francesco Barbieri and Cristhian Vaquero scored on a single to left by Jorgelys Mota which gave Fredericksburg a 3-2 lead. Fredericksburg struck in the top of the 5th when Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Cristhian Vaquero which expanded the Nationals lead to 4-2.
Pablo Aldonis threw 2.1 scoreless innings where he allowed only 1 walk.
The Mudcats responded in the bottom half when Braylon Payne hit a solo home run to right field which cut the deficit to 4-3. Fredericksburg struck in the top of the 7th when Francesco Barbieri scored on a single to left by Luke Dickerson which increased the Nationals lead to 5-3. The Mudcats responded in the bottom half when Tyler Rodriguez hit a solo home run to left which cut the deficit to 5-4. The Nationals slammed the door in the ninth which secured the 5-4 win.
Griffin Tobias threw 4 inning where he allowed 1 run on 3 hits. Euri Montero threw 2 scoreless innings where he allowed 2 hits.
The winning pitcher for the Nationals was Pablo Aldonis for his 2.1 scoreless innings. The losing pitcher for the Mudcats was Wande Torres for his 5 innings where he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits. Euri Montero earned the save for his 2 scoreless innings. The Mudcats record fell to 10-5 in the second half while the Nationals improved to 10-6 on the half. The Mudcats exited tonight .5 game ahead of the Nationals in the second half North Division standings. The Mudcats are back in action Wednesday night at 6:30 pm at Five County Stadium.
Manager Stanley met with the media following the conclusion of the game. When asked about Josh Adamczewski’s rehab assignment, Manager Stanley said:
“Yeah, I heard it’s going well. I heard he’s healthy, and I heard he’s swinging the bat well. So, hopefully we see him at some point soon.”
When asked about the performance of Griffin Tobias, Manager Stanley said:
“Yeah, as advertised, throwing a lot of strikes, working quick, really like what I saw from him.”