Idle Generals clinch playoff berth

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Woodstock’s 10-8 loss to Winchester Saturday night means idle Waynesboro has clinched a berth in the 2010 Valley League playoffs.

The Generals, at 20-20 with four games to play, have a grueling two-day stretch to finish the regular season, with doubleheaders on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday, Waynesboro is scheduled to host Covington (19-22) at 1 p.m. and then host Staunton (17-26) at 7 p.m.

Staunton’s slim playoff hopes remain alive after the Braves (17-26) posted a rain-shortened 6-4 win at Covington Saturday night.

On Monday, the Generals will play a twinbill at Harrisonburg (21-21). The first game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start.

Waynesboro can still finish anywhere from a tie for third to eighth in the league with two days remaining in the regular season.

Still waiting: Playoff berth on hold as Braves hold off Generals

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

David Gibson pitched seven strong innings, and Staunton took advantage of six walks surrendered by Waynesboro starter Michael Reed, as the Braves held off the Generals, 6-3, before a season-high crowd of 1,561 at John Moxie Memorial Stadium Friday night.

Waynesboro jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a two-run first-inning homer by third baseman Grant Fillipitch, his sixth of the season. The Braves tied it in the second at 2-2 on a pair of RBI singles by Brian Collins and Stephen Branca, then took control in the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out off Reed (0-5), then scoring when reliever Tim Leather hit Todd Brazeal with an 0-1 fastball and two outs later when Steve Scoby scored from third on a passed ball by catcher Alan Stoupa.

The lead was 6-2 in the seventh on a pair of run-scoring singles by Alex Guerra and Justin Bagbey. Waynesboro loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth off Gibson (1-1), but could only manage one run, on a two-out walk to T.J. Kuban by reliever Tyler Deetjen. Stoupa grounded out to end that threat, and Deetjen retired Waynesboro 1-2-3 in the ninth to close it out.

A Luray doubleheader sweep of Woodstock and a come-from-behind win by league-leading Haymarket over New Market Friday night has Waynesboro’s magic number for a playoff berth at one. The Generals are off on Saturday, and return to action on Sunday with a day-night, two-team doubleheader at Mathers Park, playing Covington in a makeup game for an early-week rainout at 1 p.m., then hosting Staunton at 7 p.m. in the regular-season home finale.

Thursday’s game postponed due to weather

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net 

The Covington Lumberjacks-Waynesboro Generals game scheduled for Thursday has been postponed after Waynesboro was hit by a severe storm Thursday afternoon.

The game will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. as part of a day-night doubleheader. Waynesboro will host Covington at 1 p.m., and then play at home against the Staunton Braves in the regular-season home finale at 7 p.m.

Summers, Lamm hold off Cardinals in 4-3 win

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Jarryd Summers struck out 10 in seven innings, and Mark Lamm made his effort stand up with two scoreless innings of relief, as Waynesboro posted an important 4-3 win over Front Royal at Mathers Park Wednesday night.

The win pushed Waynesboro ever closer to clinching a playoff berth. With Woodstock’s 8-6 loss at Rockbridge, the Generals reduced their magic number to clinching a playoff bid to three.

Summers (2-1) was solid all night long, giving up three runs on five hits to go with his 10 Ks. Summers has now struck out 23 in 19 innings pitched this season.

Lamm struck out three in his two innings out of the pen. The 6-4, 215-pound righty from Vanderbilt has yet to give up a run in nine appearances and has struck out 20 in 14 and a third innings.

The Generals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off losing pitcher Blake Ford (2-3) with four consecutive hits with two outs in the inning. Drew Turocy and Grant Fillipitch hit back-to-back doubles, followed up by a pair of singles by Chase Worthington and Cody Hudson, to get the early runs on the board.

Front Royal tied it at 2-2 in the second on a two-run triple by Sean Jamieson. Waynesboro answered in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice-fly RBI by Drew Turocy that scored Alan Stoupa. The lead was extended to 4-2 in the fifth when Chase Worthington led off that frame with a double and came around to score on an A.J. Albee error on a grounder off the bat of Hudson.

The Cardinals tightened things up in the sixth when Jamieson picked up his third RBI of the night by drawing a bases-loaded walk from Summers, who got out of that inning by striking out Steve Rogers one batter later to strand three Front Royal baserunners.

The Cards got two on with two out in the seventh off Summers before the Generals pitcher induced an inning-ending grounder off the bat of three-hole hitter Matt Holland.

Lamm allowed just one baserunner in his two innings on the mound, a two-out eighth-inning walk to Jamieson, before he K’d Rogers to end that threat.

Lunch with the Generals Day

Story by Jenny Hypes
jenny.hypes@emu.edu

Wednesday was Lunch with the Generals Day at the newest, busiest restaurant in town, Chick-fil-A.

Fans showed up to get their baseballs signed and to take pictures with the Waynesboro Generals. 

First-year player Jon Clinard of Austin Peay was among the Generals out for the event.

“This is our first time coming out to meet the fans,” said Clinard, an infielder who is hitting .240 with 17 RBI in 33 games. “Waynesboro is great, the community is very welcoming and supportive. They have treated us well.”

Clinard has been with the team all season. Jarryd Summers, a pitcher from West Virginia University, has been with the team for about two and a half weeks.

“I was planning to take the summer off, but then I got a call from the coach and decided to come on down and play,” said Summers, who is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in three appearances, including two starts, for Waynesboro this summer.

Summers was not the only new team member out at the Chick-fil-A today. Catcher Haskell Fink has been with the team for about three weeks now.

“I decided to come after I got the call because I knew it was a good league,” said Fink, another Austin Peay product who is hitting .250 in six games played this summer.

Bethany Shelton, head of PR at the local Chick-fil-A, was there to see how it all unfolded.

“We saw Harrisonburg Chick-fil-A do it with their team the Turks, and we saw how fun it was. The boys just really enjoyed it, and it brought a good crowd, so we thought we would do the same,” Shelton said.

Shelton would like to make the Lunch with the Generals Day into an annual event.

“It’s a good way to advertise for not only us, but them also. Like today they have a game, so meeting the fans this afternoon is a good way to let them know about the game this evening,” Shelton said.

Senators hold off Generals, 10-9

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

League-leading Haymarket finally solved Waynesboro, but it wasn’t easy.

The Generals jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and then rallied for three runs in the ninth before falling to the first-place Senators 10-9 Tuesday night.

The win was the first in four tries for Haymarket, which extended its lead over second-place Winchester to four and a half games with the win over Waynesboro and the Royals’ 2-0 loss at Harrisonburg.

Grant Fillipitch hit his fifth homer of the season in the first, a three-run shot that helped push Waynesboro to what became a 5-1 lead in the third. Haymarket rallied back to take a 7-6 lead with two runs in the sixth off reliever Devin Smith (0-1).

Kevin Ferguson (4-1) picked up the win for Haymarket with two scoreless innings of relief.

Waynesboro starter Jeremy Fitzgerald gave up five runs, three earned, in five innings.

Drew Turocy had four hits to raise his average to .375 for the season.

Sandefur wins seventh, Generals beat Luray, 2-1

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Taylor Sandefur was the man again for Waynesboro, going eight and a third innings and giving up a run on five Luray hits to get his seventh win in a 2-1 Generals victory Sunday night.

The win didn’t come without some drama in the ninth. Sandefur (7-0) hit Luray catcher David Villasuso with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Then after getting Mike Jones to fly out to center for the first out, Joel Capote reached base on an error by Waynesboro third baseman Grant Fillipitch. Andrew Blackwell came in to close the game out, but he walked the first batter that he faced, Nick Rickles, before striking out Michael Broad and getting the final out on a ground ball off the bat of Jonathan Murphy.

Blackwell recorded his third save of the season with his effort in the ninth.

Fillipitch had two hits and an RBI for Waynesboro, which improves to 19-18 on the season with the win.

The Generals have Monday off before going back out on the road on Tuesday with a game at Haymarket.

Generals fall to Royals, 6-4

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A three-run sixth got Waynesboro back in the game, but a ninth-inning rally ended in dramatic fashion with Cody Hudson thrown out trying to steal third with two outs, sending the Generals to a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Winchester Saturday night.

The Royals had jumped out to a 6-1 lead with a three-run fifth off starting pitcher Brian Atkins seeming to give them control. The Generals scored three in the sixth, with T.J. Kuban getting things going with a two-out single. Devin Smith worked his way back from an 0-2 count off Winchester starter Matt Zahel (2-0) to reach on a base on balls. Jared King, who had already doubled twice, tripled on a 1-2 count to score Kuban and Smith. King then scored when Winchester centerfielder Kevin Brashears lost a Haskell Fink flyball in the lights.

Waynesboro got two on with two out in the seventh with singles by Jon Clinard and Grant Fillipitch, but Kuban lined to second to end that threat. The Generals were able to send the winning run to the plate in the ninth when Fillipitch came up with two on and two outs. Hudson was thrown out at third trying to steal on the first pitch to Fillipitch.

Atkins (1-4) took the loss, working seven and two-thirds innings and giving up six runs on 12 hits.

Five-run rally lifts Waynesboro to wild 15-14 win

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A four-run top of the 12th seemed to give Woodstock one of the wildest games in the 87-year history of the Valley League. But we weren’t even close in terms of how wild things were going to get.

Five consecutive two-out walks, the last one drawn by nine-hole hitter Jon Clinard, gave Waynesboro an improbable 15-14 win at Mathers Park Friday night.

Clinard had led off the 12th with a walk off Zachary Tobolowski. Colin Harrington followed with a single, and Chase Worthington flew out to center for the first out of the inning. Drew Turocy picked up his fourth hit of the night with a flare to short left-center that loaded the bases. Grant Fillipitch followed with an RBI fielders choice that scored Clinard and made it 14-11, but left the Generals with two outs.

That’s when things got crazy.

Devin Smith walked to reload the bases, and Chase Cowell, a catcher, was summoned in with the River Bandits short on available pitchers to get the final out. Waynesboro reliever Andrew Blackwell, in his second plate appearance of the season, drew a walk to force in a run that made it 14-12. Jared King walked on a 3-2 pitch to draw the Generals to within 14-13. Catcher Alan Stoupa walked to tie the game at 14, leading to another pitching change, with second baseman Foster Dunigan brought in to face Clinard. Dunigan wasn’t close on any of his four offerings to Clinard on the walkoff.

The win improves Waynesboro to 18-17 on the season and gives the Generals a three-game playoff-berth cushion between where the Generals are in fifth place and Woodstock and Staunton, an 11-4 loser at Winchester on Friday, are at 15-20 and in a tie for ninth place, with nine games to go in the 2010 regular season.

Blackwell (2-1) picked up the win in relief.

Generals suffer Braves beatdown

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

The Staunton Braves might still be on the outside looking in as far as the 2010 Valley League playoff picture is concerned, but they also still own the Waynesboro Generals.

The Braves blasted Waynesboro 12-1 Thursday night in front of 1,111 at John Moxie Memorial Stadium to post their 10th win in the last 12 games in the rivalry series.

It was done largely with small ball. Only one of Staunton’s nine hits went for extra bases, but the Braves stole 11 bases on 12 attempts.

Jarryd Summers (1-1) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up four runs on two hits and six walks in six innings pitched.

Ben Alsup (4-0) picked up the win for Staunton with five and a third innings of shutout baseball.

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