P-Nats keep pelting Lynchburg pitching

Last night's Carolina League game at Pfitzner Stadium featured a pair of pitchers who grew up in Texas and are now trying to rejuvenate their careers following Tommy John elbow surgery.

Potomac started Zack Segovia on the mound. Segovia was recently signed by the Nationals after being released by the Phillies' organization. A second-round draft choice in 2002, Segovia started a game for Philadelphia after having arm surgery in 2003 and is trying to rebuild his career with the Nationals.

Lynchburg countered with Brad Lincoln. The right-hander was the Pirates' top selection in the 2006 draft but missed last season with arm surgery. After going 5-5 for low-A Hickory, Lincoln was making his first start for Lynchburg.

Segovia, it turned out, would have the better night in a 13-5 Nationals victory. The 6-foot-4 hurler pitched six innings, struck out six and left with a 5-3 lead.

Potomac, meanwhile, roughed up five Hillcats pitchers for 15 hits in front of 3,066 fans.

Potomac went on to improve to 16-11 during the second half of the season. It was the fifth time this season the P-Nats have scored at least 10 runs against Lynchburg.

Segovia did give up seven hits to the Hillcats, who scored single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. But Segovia did not allow Lynchburg a big inning, kept his team in the game and pitched well enough to improve his P-Nats record to 2-1.

Potomac's hitters, meanwhile, scored multiple runs four times to hammer the Hillcats.

The win was the third in a row for the P-Nats, who extended their lead in the Northern Division of the Carolina League to 2½ games over the second-place Hillcats.

Lincoln, meanwhile, had a rough Carolina League greeting. Lincoln departed the game in the fifth inning, having surrendered five runs.

Lincoln's downfall came in the fourth inning after his teammates had scored a run in the third inning to tie the score at 2. In the bottom of the inning, however, Potomac's Aaron Seuss and Trevor Lawhorn touched Lincoln for back-to-back homers. Seuss' blast came with Francisco Plasencia on base. The three runs game Segovia a 5-2 lead, enough to pave the way for his second win with Potomac.

Segovia left the game after finishing off the Hillcats in the sixth inning. His teammates then batted around and broke open the game with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

Three straight hits by Plasencia, Andrew Lefave and Dee Brown drove in all the runs, as Potomac built the lead to 10-3.

Plasencia, 0-for-5 previously with the bases loaded this year, smashed a two-run single off of Lynchburg first baseman Jamie Romak into right field. Lefave followed with a triple to score two more runs, and then scored himself on a single by Brown. It was Brown's fourth of a career-high five hits for the game.

Lefave, meanwhile, also drove home two runs one inning later with a double and finished with a career-high five RBI on the night.

Ryan Wagner, who had arm surgery last year and is in Potomac on a rehab assignment from the parent Washington Nationals, relieved Segovia and pitched a scoreless seventh inning with a help of a double-play grounder started by shortstop Dan Lyons.

Wagner, who made 40 relief appearances for Washington in 2006 and 2007, was on a strict pitch count and threw just one full inning.

The lone bright spot for Lynchburg was third baseman Jim Negrych, who had two hits after getting three in the opener. Negrych, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., smashed his fifth homer against Segovia in the fifth inning, leads the Carolina League in batting average (.367), hits (130) and runs scored (72).