Waynesboro tops Turks with walkoff homer, 6-5

Ryan Breen just got in town Saturday night. He hasn’t yet met all of his teammates.

He found a good way to introduce himself.

“I don’t know if you can (top this). This was pretty exciting. Get in last night, have my first game today, get to call it behind the plate, end it on a walkoff. It was cool,” said Breen, a junior catcher from Central Florida, who capped a 2-for-5 night with a home run to left-center that lifted Waynesboro to a 6-5, 10-inning win over Harrisonburg.

The win puts the Generals in first place in the South all by themselves with a 9-4 record, a full game ahead of the second-place Turks.

Gregory Cooke (1-1) got the win with two innings of scoreless relief.

“We have confidence late in the game. This is the second time we’ve hit a walkoff. No matter how things go at the start of a game, we’re going to come back and score runs and fight our way out of it,” Cooke said.

The game had the feel of a playoff game. Harrisonburg got on the board first on a two-run, third-inning homer by Ryan Lee. Waynesboro answered with one in the bottom of the third on a Caleb Palensky sacrifice fly that scored Bradley Noland from third base.

An R.J. Perucki RBI single made it 3-1 Harrisonburg in the fourth, but the Generals answered with a three-spot, with Breen launching an RBI triple that scored Brandon Murray, then scoring the tying run when Brandon Glazer reached on an error.

A Noland single to right plated Glazer and put Waynesboro up 4-3.

Harrisonburg tied the game in the fifth on a Breen throwing error that allowed Ryan Brown to score.

The Turks then took a 5-4 lead in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Brown.

Waynesboro fought back to a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the sixth when Seth Lucio ignited a two-out, nobody-on rally by reaching base on a walk. Jeff Conley walked to put two runners on base with two outs, and Noland delivered an RBI single to plate Lucio with the tying run.

Generals starter Rob Curran posted a solid outing on the mound, giving up four runs, three earned, in five innings of work.

Austin Young gave up a run on four hits and struck out four in three innings out of the bullpen.

Joshua Karr (1-1) took the loss for Harrisonburg.

Waynesboro completes a three-game homestand with a game against county rival Staunton. First pitch at Kate Collins Field is at 7 p.m.

More at www.WaynesboroGenerals.net.