Chris Graham joins ‘Baseball in the Valley’ podcast
Chris Graham was a guest on the debut installment of “Baseball in the Valley,” a podcast hosted by Austin Gisriel covering Valley League Baseball.
“Baseball in the Valley” is broadcast live on Blog Talk Radio on Thursdays at 6 p.m. You can access archived podcasts at www.blogtalkradio.com/seamheads .
Graham, play-by-play broadcaster for the Waynesboro Generals, will be a regular guest on the summer podcast series.
Gisriel is the author of A Season in the Valley, a book chronicling a season behind the scenes with the Valley League’s New Market Rebels. A Season in the Valley was published in 2010 by Augusta Free Press Publishing.
The 2011 Valley League season begins Thursday, June 2. The Generals open play on Friday, June 3, on the road at Rockbridge. Waynesboro’s home opener is Saturday, June 4, against Covington.
More information about the Generals is online at www.WaynesboroGenerals.com.
Three Generals named to All-Valley teams
Taylor Sandeur and Drew Turocy were first-team All-Valley League selections, and Cody Hudson was named to the All-Valley second team, in selections announced on Saturday.
Sandefur was dominant on the mound for Waynesboro in 2010, going 7-0 in 13 appearances, including eight starts, with a 2.26 ERA. Sandefur, a 6-2, 245-pound freshman from Western Carolina, had 60 strikeouts in 59 and two-thirds innings pitched and allowed opposing hitters to bat just .215 on the season.
Turocy, a 6-3, 190-pound junior centerfielder from Akron, led the Generals in batting average at .370 with a home run and 31 RBIs. Turocy also had eight stolen bases in 10 attempts and seven outfield assists.
Hudson, a 5-11, 183-pound freshman leftfielder from Austin Peay, hit .303 with 24 RBI, a team-high 36 runs scored and 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts.
A notable omission from the All-Valley teams was Waynesboro third baseman Grant Fillipitch, who led the team with six home runs, 34 RBI and a .497 slugging percentage while hitting .302 on the season.
Named first-team All-Valley League at third base was Mike Garza from Woodstock (.388, 3 HR, 30 RBI), and named to the second-team at third base was Brant Jones (.356, 5 HR, 34 RBI).
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro virginia, waynesboro generals
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
Generals get win in first game of Sunday doubleheader
Chastin Akers picked six strong innings in his first start of the Valley League season, and Waynesboro got the win in the first of two on Sunday, knocking off Covington, 6-4.
Akers (1-0) gave up three runs on seven hits in his second appearance of the season. The 6-7 lefty from Concord got some help early as the Generals scored three runs in the bottom of the first aided by a pair of Covington errors, including one on a one-out grounder by Drew Turocy that allowed Colin Harrington and Cody Hudson to score.
Chase Worthington had a pair of sacrifice-fly RBIs for Waynesboro, which had already clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night when Woodstock lost to Winchester.
The win pushes Waynesboro for the moment into fifth place a half-game ahead of idle Harrisonburg.
The Generals host Staunton at 7 p.m. in their regular-season home finale.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
keywords: waynesboro generals, covington lumberjacks, waynesboro virginia, valley league, valley league baseball, chastin akers
