Woodbridge, VA – Three late runs and some splendid bullpen pitching pushed the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Potomac Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium on Thursday night. Anthony Seratelli tied the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning with a two-out, two run homer, and Joe Dickerson knocked in the game-winner with a pinch-hit sac fly in the eighth. Gilbert De La Vara (2-2) and Tyler Chambliss combined to retire Potomac’s last 10 hitters in order to secure Wilmington’s third straight win. The victory snapped Potomac’s league-best 10-game winning streak overall, and 14-game home win jaunt dating back to the 2007 season.

The Blue Rocks got on the scoreboard in the second inning against Ross Detwiler, the second-best prospect in the Washington Nationals organization according to Baseball America. Eight of the nine men in the order came to bat that frame, starting with a single to center field off the bat off Kurt Mertins. Jeff Howell followed with a first-pitch swinging single to right and Wilver Perez struck out. With Josh Johnson at the plate, Potomac catcher Brian Peacock picked off Mertins at second base, 2-4, but Johnson rallied from down 0-2 in the count to work a walk. Detwiler issued a five-pitch free pass to Jarrod Dyson to load the bases, and Derrick Robinson knocked home a couple of runs with a single over second base for a 2-0 Wilmington lead.

Robinson took second on the offline and late throw home, as Dyson had advanced to third. However, after handing Chris McConnell a four-pitch walk, Detwiler struck out Jeff Bianchi on a high-fastball swing and miss to leave the bases loaded and minimize damage.

The P-Nats rallied with four unanswered runs against area product Jason Godin. Compiling its tallies in two similar styles, Potomac plated two in the third on back-to-back one-out doubles by Peacock and Matt Rogelstad. A balk by Godin, who attended high school at North Stafford just 20 miles away from Pfitzner Stadium, advanced Rogelstad to third base, and an RBI groundout to third from Ofilio Castro scored him for a 2-2 deadlock.

The second duo of scores came in the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles courtesy of Edgardo Baez and Seth Bynum. In that frame, a Godin wild pitch advanced Bynum to third base and a hot shot RBI groundout to shortstop by Peacock with the infield in pushed Potomac ahead, 4-2.

Godin departed with two on and two out in the sixth in favor of De La Vara who worked out of the jam by inducing a pop out to second off the bat of Baez. No National would reach base again, as De La Vara sat them down 1-2-3 in the seventh and eighth innings. Godin allowed four runs on five hits (four doubles), two walks and three strikeouts over 5.2 innings.

De La Vara’s splendid hurling allowed the offense a chance to catch its breath and press on. In the seventh inning, the tying surge began with a one-out single to right by McConnell who then swiped second base and took third on a groundout by Bianchi. It set the scene for Seratelli to illustrate his dormant power with a shot to right-center, his first of the season, off reliever Craig Stammen.

Adam Carr received a rude greeting from Howell to start the eighth, a single to right. Carr lost the zone, walking Perez on four pitches and Johnson took advantage with a sac bunt that moved both runners up a base. First-year manager Darryl Kennedy went to his bench, bringing up Joe Dickerson as a pinch-hitter for Dyson, and Dickerson delivered – a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Howell for a 5-4 Blue Rocks lead.

Chambliss pitched a perfect ninth with a strikeout for his second save in three days. Though, the frame did have one scare, a line drive to deep center by Dee Brown, son of former Philadelphia Eagle, the late Jerome Brown. Robinson raced back on the ball late, leapt into the air and made an eye-popping catch, slamming into the wall and holding onto the ball for the second out of the inning to help preserve the victory.

These squads play game two of their four-game set on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Struggling starter Mario Santiago (0-0, 11.81) faces prospect right-hander Jordan Zimmermann (1-0, 0.93). Baseball America ranks Zimmermann as the seventh-best chip in the Nationals system.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Nationals had not lost a home game since the Blue Rocks took an 8-6 decision at the Pfitz on August 16, 2007. Coincidentally, Chambliss earned the save in that game as well.

Each of the Blue Rocks in the starting nine reached base at least once with a hit or a walk.

Wilmington swiped three bases on the game in four tries, upping its stolen base total to a CL-best 38 in 53 attempts. The Blue Crew is on pace to steal 380 bases this season.