Corey Armentrout gave up one run in five innings on the mound on two days rest, Waynesboro hit three home runs, and reliever Sean Bucholz closed things out with two innings of scoreless relief, lifting the Generals to a 6-3 win over the Strasburg Express in the deciding Game 3 of the Valley League Championship Series on Tuesday.
The VBL title is the fifth for Waynesboro, and the first for the franchise since 2007. It came at the end of an improbable run for the Generals, who were the last team to qualify for the South Division playoffs, on the final day of the 2013 regular season, and had to knock off two nationally-ranked teams just to get to the Championship Series.
Armentrout, named the 2013 playoff most valuable player, had carried his team into the final round with a 3-0 win on Saturday in New Market, in which the Bridgewater College sophomore had struck out 13, walked one and given up five hits in eight innings of work.
The lefty met with Coach Mike Bocock on Monday and told the veteran skipper that he thought he could give his team five or six innings on the mound in the VBL clincher.
“Today would have been my bullpen day anyway. I just felt like I could go,” said Armentrout, who gave up a single earned run in 19 and two-thirds innings of work on the mound in three starts, all Waynesboro wins, in the 2013 playoffs.
Centerfielder JoJo Woods (junior, Central Florida) staked Waynesboro to an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to right in the third. Home runs by Kevin Fagan (freshman, Stetson) in the fifth and Quinn Griffith (junior, Salisbury) in the sixth pushed the lead to 4-0.
Armentrout finally tired in the sixth, giving up a leadoff homer to Andrew Kubuski, a single to Erik Armstrong and then hitting Cameron Johnson with a pitch before being lifted for Michael Scimanico (sophomore, Shenandoah), who hit Ryan Welling with his first pitch before getting out of the jam by striking out Anthony Payne and then inducing Tyler McDonald to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Express cut the lead to 4-3 in the seventh on RBI singles by Armstrong and Johnson.
Waynesboro got some valuable insurance in the ninth on a two-out, two-run single by Patrick Mazeika (freshman, Stetson).
Bucholz closed things out in the ninth after a leadoff walk and a throwing error by Griffith put runners at first and third with one out, striking out Armstrong and Johnson.
“We’re very humbled to be in this Valley League and win this thing. These players got better throughout the season. The coaching staff worked hard all summer. And to walk off the field with my son with a championship, it just doesn’t get any better than that,” said Generals coach Mike Bocock, who won a VBL title in his first season at the helm in Waynesboro, and his eighth league championship overall.
He did it with just one All-Valley League selection, his son, shortstop Tyler Bocock (sophomore, Stetson), who made the all-league second team. Waynesboro never did get over the .500 mark in the 2013 regular season, but the Generals swept regular-season champion Harrisonburg in the first round of the playoffs, and then took a three-game series with South Division runnerup New Market to advance to the final series.
Strasburg took Game 1 of the VBL Championship Series on Sunday by a 6-0 final to extend its winning streak to nine games. Waynesboro won Game 2 by a 5-1 count to force Tuesday’s winner-take-all Game 3.
“Because our division was so tough, and we had to go and fight for everything we got, I think it made us really good and tough at the end of the season,” Bocock said.
The Generals could manage only five hits on the night, but made the most of them with the rare display of power. Waynesboro had hit 12 home runs all season heading into Game 3 before exploding with the three long balls on Tuesday.
Fagan’s shot, to right-center, was his first of the season, and his last. Players will start heading home early Wednesday morning to get a week or two with family before heading back to college.
“I can’t wait to get home and get to spend time with my family. This is an awesome way to end it,” Fagan said.
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