Cards drop Waynesboro, 9-3, end Generals’ season
Front Royal got to Waynesboro starter Chastin Akers early and cruised to a 9-3 win in the deciding Game 3 of the teams’ first-round Valley League playoff series on Saturday night.
The Generals trailed 2-0 after one, but had a chance in the third to make it a game when a two-out walk to Chase Worthington loaded the bases for T.J. Kuban. Kuban flied out to deep right to leave the bases loaded, and Front Royal seized control with a threespot in the bottom of the third that knocked out Akers (1-1).
Waynesboro left 12 runners on base for the game.
First-team All-Valley outfielder Drew Turocy had three hits for Waynesboro.
The loss ends Waynesboro’s 2010 season.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Generals win, force deciding game in playoff series
Tim Leather had a rocky top of the first in his first start of the season, but after getting out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam with no damage, Leather was dominant, pitching seven scoreless innings to push Waynesboro to a 4-3 win over Front Royal in Game 2 of the teams’ first-round playoff series Friday night.
The win means there will be a deciding Game 3 Saturday night in Front Royal. First pitch in Bing Crosby Stadium is at 7:30 p.m.
Leather (1-0) also had to work his way out of a second-and-third, one-out situation in the third, striking out Cardinals’ cleanup hitter James Roche and getting Pete Greskoff to fly out to right. The Generals then put up a threespot in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Colin Harrington, a base on balls issued by Front Royal starter Ricky Ott (2-3) to Cody Hudson, and a wild RBI single by Grant Fillipitch that scored Harrington from second. On that play, Cards’ centerfielder Will Walsh tried to throw Hudson out at third base, but the ball hit Hudson on his slide into the bag and got away from third baseman Steve Rogers. Hudson scored, and Rogers’ throw home also got away from catcher Andy Drexel, allowing Fillipitch to advance to third, where he scored when Drew Turocy hit a sacrifice fly to left.
The Generals made it 4-0 in the fourth on another sac-fly RBI, this one off the bat of Harrington, scoring designated hitter Haskell Fink.
Leather handed a 4-0 lead to the bullpen in the eighth, but Front Royal got to the first man out of the pen, Zach McElroy, getting back-to-back doubles by Roche and Greskoff and an RBI groundout by A.J. Albee to make it 4-3 Waynesboro. Mark Lamm got the final two outs of the eighth, then closer Andrew Blackwell pitched a scoreless ninth, getting Matt Holland to fly out to Hudson in left to end it.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro virginia, front royal virginia
Generals-Cards Game 2 pushed back another night
Heavy rain creating poor field conditions have once again delayed Game 2 of the Waynesboro-Front Royal first-round Valley League playoff series.
The game will be completed on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field. The contest had gotten under way on Wednesday night, but was put into a delay with the score at 0-0 in the top of the second inning.
Heavy rain on Wednesday had pushed the completion of the game to Thursday at 7 p.m. Heavy rains in the Waynesboro area Thursday afternoon, with more in the forecast for the evening and night hours, forced the additional delay.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro virginia, front royal virginia
Waynesboro splits with Harrisonburg, earns #5 seed in playoffs
A seven-run fourth rallied Waynesboro from a 4-1 deficit in game two of a doubleheader at Harrisonburg and earned the Generals a split with the Turks on Monday.
The split gives Waynesboro the #5 seed in the Valley League playoffs, which get going Tuesday night with the Generals traveling to Front Royal to take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals in Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series.
Waynesboro got complete-game seven-inning efforts from a pair of pitchers making their first starts of the season, Drew Turocy, who took the tough-luck 1-0 loss in Game 1 on Monday against the Turks, and Devin Smith, who shut out Harrisonburg in the final four innings after giving up three in the first and a single run in the third.
Turocy, the Generals’ starting centerfielder most of the season, keyed the seven-run fourth-inning rally in Game 2 with a three-run homer to right field, his first homer of the season, and the first homer by a General other than Grant Fillipitch, who finished the regular season with six home runs in 2010.
Turocy (0-2) lost Game 1 despite giving up just one run on seven hits in six innings of work. Turocy struck out four and did not issue a walk in the effort.
Smith (1-1) gave up four runs on six hits in seven innings pitched in Game 2. Smith struck out three and walked one.
The split of the doubleheader left Waynesboro and Harrisonburg tied for fifth in the league standings with identical 22-22 records. Waynesboro earned the #5 seed by virtue of their 3-2 advantage over Harrisonburg in their head-to-head series in 2010.
#4 seed Front Royal finished a game ahead of the two teams with a 23-21 record. The Cards and the Generals split their season series at 2-2. Front Royal won the first two matchups between the teams, 3-2 in 11 innings on June 15 in Front Royal and 8-5 on June 29 in Waynesboro, and Waynesboro winning the final two, 9-6 at Front Royal on July 15 and 4-3 in Waynesboro on July 28.
Game 1 of the Waynesboro-Front Royal playoff series is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bing Crosby Stadium in Front Royal.
Game 2 will be played at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.
Game 3, if necessary, would be played on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Front Royal.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro generals, front royal cardinals, harrisonburg turks, valley league, valley league baseball, waynesboro virginia, front royal virginia, harrisonburg virginia
Summers, Lamm hold off Cardinals in 4-3 win
Jarryd Summers struck out 10 in seven innings, and Mark Lamm made his effort stand up with two scoreless innings of relief, as Waynesboro posted an important 4-3 win over Front Royal at Mathers Park Wednesday night.
The win pushed Waynesboro ever closer to clinching a playoff berth. With Woodstock’s 8-6 loss at Rockbridge, the Generals reduced their magic number to clinching a playoff bid to three.
Summers (2-1) was solid all night long, giving up three runs on five hits to go with his 10 Ks. Summers has now struck out 23 in 19 innings pitched this season.
Lamm struck out three in his two innings out of the pen. The 6-4, 215-pound righty from Vanderbilt has yet to give up a run in nine appearances and has struck out 20 in 14 and a third innings.
The Generals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off losing pitcher Blake Ford (2-3) with four consecutive hits with two outs in the inning. Drew Turocy and Grant Fillipitch hit back-to-back doubles, followed up by a pair of singles by Chase Worthington and Cody Hudson, to get the early runs on the board.
Front Royal tied it at 2-2 in the second on a two-run triple by Sean Jamieson. Waynesboro answered in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice-fly RBI by Drew Turocy that scored Alan Stoupa. The lead was extended to 4-2 in the fifth when Chase Worthington led off that frame with a double and came around to score on an A.J. Albee error on a grounder off the bat of Hudson.
The Cardinals tightened things up in the sixth when Jamieson picked up his third RBI of the night by drawing a bases-loaded walk from Summers, who got out of that inning by striking out Steve Rogers one batter later to strand three Front Royal baserunners.
The Cards got two on with two out in the seventh off Summers before the Generals pitcher induced an inning-ending grounder off the bat of three-hole hitter Matt Holland.
Lamm allowed just one baserunner in his two innings on the mound, a two-out eighth-inning walk to Jamieson, before he K’d Rogers to end that threat.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Generals win at Front Royal
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Cody Hudson had three hits and two RBI, and Daniel Bradshaw pitched into the eighth inning as Waynesboro rolled past Front Royal 9-6 Thursday night.
WaynesboroGenerals.com has the story.
Defensive issues hamper Generals
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Four unearned runs on four Waynesboro errors spelled the difference as Front Royal defeated the Generals 8-5 Tuesday night at Mathers Park.
WaynesboroGenerals.com has the story.
Generals lose in extras at Front Royal
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
An 11th-inning Will Walsh RBI single gave Front Royal a 3-2 win over Waynesboro Tuesday night.
WaynesboroGenerals.com has the story.
