A Stephen Pitarra walk-off RBI single gave the Waynesboro Generals a 3-2, 10-inning win over the Covington Lumberjacks Friday night at Linco Park at Kate Collins Field.
The Generals (3-3) had trailed all night long, with Covington getting on the board in the top of the first, on a Kyle Pangallo RBI groundout, and going up 2-0 in the top of the fifth on an RBI double by Jonathan Corbitt that came after a disputed infield single by Demetrius Moorer on a play at first on a routine ground ball to shortstop on which it appeared that Moorer was clearly out by a step.
Waynesboro responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth on an Imani Willis RBI single, but the Generals couldn’t add to the inning after loading the bases with one out, in what was a sort of theme of the night.
The Generals left 13 runners on base on the night, and seemed headed toward another tight loss.
In the bottom of the ninth, Waynesboro finally broke through. Kevin Phillips reached on a one-out error, and Pitarra singled through the hole between short and third to put two on with one out.
Michael Brosseau singled sharply to left-center to bring home Phillips with the tying run. Willis hit a liner up the middle that Covington pitcher Cody Strayer (0-1) knocked down to get a force out at third for the second out.
Strayer then walked Clayton Taylor to load the bases, and Joseph Estrada worked a 3-2 count off Strayer, who got a called strike three on a borderline pitch to end that threat.
Waynesboro reliever Jordan Harmon (2-0) worked around a two-out walk to retire Covington in the 10th, setting up the walk-off in the bottom of the inning.
Ryan Gridley singled to left with one out, and T.J. Marik walked to put runners on first and second. Phillips lined out to right for the second out in advance of Pitarra’s seeing-eye single to left that scored Gridley with the winning run.
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Chris Graham
