Meyers, P-Nats rejoice in victory

The first Frederick batter Brad Meyers faced, Matt Angle, grounded out to second base.
The next, Jason White walked, went to second on Brandon Waring’s single and to third on Robbie Widlansky’s single.
The bases were loaded with one out. It was not shaping up to be Meyers’ night.
But the Potomac Nationals’ starting pitcher regained his composure, getting Ryan Adams to pop out to first and Billy Rowell to ground to second base.
“The first inning’s always tough for me,” Meyers said. “If I can get through that, I’ll be OK.”
That last statement proved to be true on Saturday. The Carolina League All-Star blanked the Keys for the next five innings. He departed having allowed only five hits, issuing two walks and getting five strikeouts.
His third straight scoreless outing improved his record to 6-2, his ERA to 1.43 and gave the Nationals a 4-1 victory on quite an unusual night at Pfitzner Stadium.
A crowd of 10,879 filled the seats, breaking the stadium mark of 9,097 set July 4, 1998.
Potomac owner Art Silber recited Lou Gehrig’s famous speech verbatim that the former Yankees slugger told fans before succumbing to the disease which bears his name prior to the bottom of the seventh inning.
A man stood on a crane beyond center field in the fourth inning, obstructing the vision of Potomac’s Stephen King during his second at-bat.
King asked for time and the crane lowered, forcing the man to move to the top of the scoreboard with a Potomac staff member. They stayed there for about an inning.
The fireworks which were supposed to and did go off after the game went off before the top of the ninth, forcing a temporary delay.
And Potomac’s Sean Rooney hit his first Pfitzner Stadium home run.
Clearly fans had lots to witness.
“It’s a day of celebration,” Nationals manager Trent Jewett said. “The fans are always really supportive and they enjoyed the game.”
Jewett believes pitching and defense are essential to success. On Saturday, Potomac (43-34 overall, 6-4 second half) was successful on both fronts.
Adam Carr tossed the final three innings and allowed Bobby Stevens to score on a seventh inning groundout, but earned his first save this year.
Potomac committed no errors. The defensive trio of Dan Lyons, Danny Espinosa and Chris Marrero turned a four-six-three double play to end the top of the fifth.
“[Catcher Brian] Peacock did an excellent job,” Jewett said. “King had an outstanding game on defense. All in all, it was one of our better jobs.”
Rooney’s two-run home run put the Nationals up 2-0 in the third.
Rooney scored again in the fifth on Espinosa’s double. 
Espinosa went to third on an error and scored on Dan Nelson’s single.
Those runs were more than enough for Meyers, whose parents Jeff and Kathy and brother Greg attended the game.
Meyers has 21 straight scoreless innings to his credit for the second time this year.
“The key is keeping hitters off balance,” said Meyers, who at one point set down seven straight from the top of the second to the top of the fourth. “When you have pitches that can do that, you’ll be OK.”