Covington, Waynesboro split two; ‘Jacks still alive in playoff hunt

Covington held off a late Waynesboro rally to win game two of a doubleheader, 3-2, and keep its 2013 Valley League playoff hopes alive.

Waynesboro won game one, 5-2, to reduce its magic number for clinching a playoff bid to three. Jeff Conley (junior, Alderson-Broaddus) picked up the win, giving up two runs on seven hits in four and two-thirds innings, striking out seven and walking none to earn his second victory of the season.

Josh Thorne (freshman, Stetson) pitched an inning and a third of scoreless relief, and Sean Bucholz (junior, Southern Miss) notched his second save of 2013 with a 1-2-3 seventh.

JoJo Woods (junior, Central Florida) had two hits and Quinn Griffith (junior, Salisbury) had two sacrifice-fly RBIs for Waynesboro in the game one win.

In the nightcap, Waynesboro starter Terrance Dedrick (junior, Auburn) retired the first nine in order before Covington scored two in the fourth and added a single run in the fifth to take a 3-0 lead. Waynesboro got back into the game in the sixth on an RBI single by Tyler Bocock (sophomore, Stetson) and an RBI groundout by Patrick Mazeika (freshman, Stetson) that cut the deficit to 3-2.

Waynesboro threatened in the seventh, getting a one-out walk to Corbin Lucas (sophomore, Shenandoah) and a single down the right-field line by Ben Boykin (junior, College of Charleston) that advanced Lucas to third. But Boykin was thrown out at second trying to extend the single into a double for the second out. Anthony Iacomini (junior, Cortland) walked on a 3-2 pitch to put runners at the corners with two outs. Woods hit a soft liner into right field, but Covington second baseman Mike Gilbert saved the game with a nice diving catch to end the game.

Waynesboro travels to New Market to play the second-place Rebels on Sunday.

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