SALEM, VA - On the longest day of the year, the Fredericksburg Nationals (1-0, 31-35) opened the second half of their season in record-setting fashion, defeating the Salem Red Sox (0-1, 26-39) 3-0 in the fastest nine-inning game in franchise history.

The FredNats wasted no time getting on the board. Cristhian Vaquero set the tone with a nine-pitch leadoff single and scored on a double from Luke Dickerson. Dickerson later came home on Nick Peoples’ RBI groundout, giving Fredericksburg a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

They added another run in the second when Kelvin Diaz tripled and was immediately driven in by Francesco Barbieri, pushing the lead to 3-0.

Starter Xander Meckley made the most of the early cushion, cruising through six scoreless innings on just 58 pitches. He allowed only two hits and a walk, retiring the final 15 batters he faced to match his career high for innings pitched.

Both offenses went quiet after the second, as the teams combined to retire 29 consecutive hitters into the seventh. In that inning, Salem threatened but ran into trouble on the bases, allowing the FredNats to turn a triple play on a lineout to second base, followed by force outs at first and second.

Pablo Aldonis closed out the game with a quick ninth, sealing the 3-0 win in just 1 hour and 54 minutes—the fastest nine-inning contest in Fredericksburg Nationals history. Fredericksburg’s pitchers combined to throw just 92 pitches, their lowest total in a nine-inning game this season.

Meckley (4-5) earned the win, Fajardo (0-1) took the loss, and Aldonis (1) picked up the save. With the series tied 2-2, the Fredericksburg Nationals look ahead to game five on Saturday, with Yoel Tejeda Jr. set to start.