MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - WOODBRIDGE, Va.— If perseverance is the Nationals modus operandi, they
 proved it Thursday night at Pfitzner Stadium with another amazing
 comeback. Potomac would just not go away against the Winston-Salem
 Warthogs as they stormed back from a three-run deficit in the bottom of
 the ninth inning to tie the game and eventually won it in 12 innings 8-7.

 Francisco Plasencia tripled to lead off the 12th putting the winning run
 just 90 feet away, and Steve Spurgeon (2-2) intentionally walked the next
 two hitters with no outs. With the bases loaded, Trevor Lawhorn slapped a
 grounder into left field past Winston-Salem's infield that had five
 defensive players ending the four hour twenty-three minute marathon.

 Trailing 7-4 in the final frame against Henry Mabee, Potomac ironically
 found its groove. Aaron Seuss led off with a double and Jhonatan Solano
 singled bringing the tying run to the plate. When Brian Finegan struck out
 and Michael Martinez hit an RBI groundout, the P-Nats were down to their
 final out. But even with the pressure mounting, Potomac seized the moment.
 Dan Lyons made the score 7-6 when his ground ball took a big hop over the
 head of shortstop Joe Persichina to drive in Solano. Then, Plasencia's
 grounder to first turned into a bizarre play when first baseman Freddie
 Thon's attempted throw to Mabee covering the bag went wide extending the
 game. Dee Brown, who has been one of the hottest Potomac hitters lately
 provided tying blow with a single up the middle scoring Lyons and evening
 the score at 7-7.

 The entire game was a seesaw battle as both teams had leads and lost them.
 There were a total of four lead changes and three ties. The Warthogs were
 in complete control of the game when they took a commanding lead in the
 top of the eighth inning with the score tied 4-4. Martin Beno struggled to
 throw strikes as six out of the seven hitters he faced reached base. The
 right-hander walked four and hit a batter as he lasted just 1/3 of an
 inning. The Hogs mounted just one hit but still found a way to score three
 runs.

 Finegan, Martinez, Solano, and Andrew Lefave all had RBI hits when the
 Nationals scored runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. Potomac
 had a 4-2 lead after the fourth, but Winston-Salem battled back with runs
 of its own in the fifth and sixth.

 The two teams combined to use 11 different pitchers. Josh Wilkie was
 spectacular in relief for the P-Nats tossing 3 2/3 innings of shutout
 ball. He allowed just one hit and struck out five and entered the game
 when Beno departed with one out in the eighth. Edulin Abreu (1-0) pitched
 a perfect 12th for his first win with the Nationals.

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