Waynesboro, the South Division champion, had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh on a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Jeb Weymouth to score and an RBI fielder’s choice by Travis Echolsthat scored Keith Picconi.

Devin Smith (3-1) struck out the first two Rapids hitters in the seventh before giving up an infield single to Zach Leach, who advanced all the way to third on the play on a throwing error by third baseman Chase Worthington. Smith walked Tanner Lovick and Clinton Freeman to load the bases before being lifted for Andrew Blackwell, who hit Brody Greer on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game at 4. Blackwell walked Tyler Molinaro on another 3-2 pitch to give Rockbridge a 5-4 lead, and an Andrew Montague two-run single made it 7-4 Rockbridge.

Scott Wilcox led off the eighth with a walk but was stranded at first. The ninth saw Travis Echols single with two outs to give Waynesboro one last glimmer of hope before Dykota Spiess flew out to right to end it.

Kerry Doane (2-1) picked up the win in relief for Rockbridge, which had won Game 1 11-3 in Waynesboro Saturday night.

Elliot took a shutout into the ninth before the Generals got on the board on an RBI double by Jordan Walton, an RBI fielder’s choice by Scott Wilcox and an RBI single by Jimmy Holton.

Elliot (4-1) went eight and a third innings and gave up nine hits – five of those in the ninth.

Waynesboro starter Adam Curtis (4-4) had a much shorter outing – not making it out of the second while giving up eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits.

Walton was 3-for-4 at the plate, and Devin Smith had two hits in four trips.

Game 2 is Sunday night in Lexington. Ryan Ashooh (3-0, 3.18 ERA) gets the start for the Generals.

The Generals (26-18), the #3 seed in the 2011 Valley League playoffs, will host #6 seed Rockbridge (21-23) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park in Waynesboro in Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series.

Waynesboro will go into the postseason as maybe the hottest team in the league, winning seven of its last eight to seize control of what had been a tight Southern Division race. The key down the stretch: pitching, as was the case against Friday in Covington. Bruce (1-1) gave up one run on five hits in eight innings of work.

Bruce got all the support that he’d need in a three-run second. Devin Smith singled to center, scoring Scott Wilcox from second to get Waynesboro on the board at 1-0. An Echols RBI single that followed an error that allowed Smith to score extended the lead to 3-0.

It was 4-0 in the fifth when Echols came up with two outs and the bases loaded. Echols took the pitch from Sean Hagen to left-center and out of the ballpark for a grand slam that broke the game open.

Smith, Wilcox and Jimmy Holton each had two hits for Waynesboro.

Commemorative T-shirts available for a limited time for $15 at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field on game nights and at Initial Inspiration in Downtown Waynesboro.

Online at www.InitialInspiration.com.

The win, the ninth in 10 games for the Generals over the rival Braves, prevented Staunton from clinching a playoff berth for at least another night. Staunton (20-22) needs one win in its final two games – Thursday at Covington and Friday at Rockbridge – to sew up a berth. Should the Braves drop their final two, they would be forced into a one-game playoff with Woodstock (20-24), which stayed alive with an 11-6 win over New Market Wednesday night.

The second Wilcox homer keyed a five-run fifth for Waynesboro that erased a 6-5 Staunton lead. Wilcox had three hits and five RBIs on the night, and got a gutsy outing out of starter Ryan Poplawski (2-3), who pitched into the sixth despite giving up six runs on 11 hits.

Eric Sanders loaded the bases with Braves with nobody out in the seventh, but escaped the jam giving up just one run, on a one-out infield groundout by Eric Payne.

Devin Smith earned his first save of the season with scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth. The ninth got a little too interesting for the sake of Generals’ fans, as a one-out walk to Justin Bagbey, a two-out single by Derek Justice and a walk to Josh Tutwiler loaded the bases before Smith was able to strike out Matt Dickason to end the game.

Smith, who started in right field, also had two hits in four at-bats and a run scored for Waynesboro (25-18), which had clinched the South Division title a night earlier.

“It’s a big confidence boost clinching the division tonight. We’re confident going into the playoffs,” said Lucas, a Waynesboro High School graduate, who was dazzling on the mound in the clincher, giving up one run on six hits and striking out five in five and a third innings.

Noland once again set the table for the offense. The 5-8, 165-pound sophomore from Northwest Mississippi Community College raised his batting average to .344 in his 25 games in Waynesboro with 22 RBIs hitting primarily out of the leadoff spot.

“I came in kind of late and got off to a slow start. It felt good to go out tonight with a good game,” Noland said.

The outcome of the finale was not in doubt for long. Waynesboro took an early 1-0 lead on a two-out single in the bottom of the first off the bat of reigning South Division player of the week Jordan Walton that scored Dykota Spiess from third.

The Generals added two in the third when Travis Echols was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored on a triple to left-center off the bat of Travis Echols, who scored a batter later on another two-out RBI single by Walton.

Waynesboro broke it open in the middle innings, getting two in the fifth, three in the sixth and three in the seventh in support of Lucas (3-0).

Waynesboro (24-18) travels to Staunton (20-21) Wednesday night. The Braves, who have lost eight of nine to Waynesboro in the season series, still need a win in their final three games to clinch a playoff spot.

Walton hit .364 with eight RBIs last week and had four hits and four RBIs in Waynesboro’s 9-5 win over Staunton on Sunday night. The win over Staunton clinched a 2011 playoff berth for the Generals.

For the season, Walton is fourth in the Valley League with a .375 batting average with a homer and 28 RBI.

The win gives Waynesboro a two-and-a-half-game lead over Staunton in the Southern Division with three regular-season games remaining. The Generals’ magic number to clinch the division and the #3 seed in the upcoming Valley League playoffs stands at one.

It looked for the longest time that Staunton would close the gap on Waynesboro as the Braves raced out to a 5-1 lead with two in the fifth and another in the sixth putting some distance between the two teams. The Generals seventh began with a leadoff walk to Jimmy Holton and a Devin Smith single to right. Brad Noland sacrificed the runners to second and third. With one out, Dykota Spiess walked, and Rob Amaro followed with an infield single that scored Holton from third.

Walton was next and tripled to left-center to clear the bases and tie the game at five. Chase Worthington, who had homered earlier in the game, followed with an RBI single that gave Waynesboro a 6-5 lead.

Holton reached on an error to lead off the eighth, and Smith followed with an infield single, with both runners advancing on a throwing error by Braves third baseman Josh Wenger. Holton scored on a sacrifice fly by Noland to make it 7-5 Waynesboro. RBI singles by Spiess and Walton added some extra insurance.

Andrew Blackwell (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings to notch the win out of the bullpen. Tyler Clayburn (3-3) gave up three runs on three hits without recording an out to take the loss for Staunton, which has now lost eight of nine to Waynesboro in the season series between the two teams.

Waynesboro (23-18) can clinch the Southern Division title Monday night on the road at Covington. The Generals return home on Tuesday to play Rockbridge.

Start time tonight will range from 7:30 to 8 p.m.

For the latest information, call 540.942.8790.