Generals rally past Staunton

Scott Wilcox hit two homers, and Waynesboro got some quality innings out of its bullpen to shut down Staunton, 10-7, Wednesday night at John Moxie Memorial Stadium.

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.