It didn’t look like Waynesboro was going to get out of the first inning. Then Front Royal couldn’t get out of the fifth or sixth.

The Generals rallied from an early 2-0 deficit thanks to a four-run fifth and a seven-run sixth to post a 14-2 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Starting pitcher TJ Page struggled mightily in the first, walking five Front Royal hitters before getting out of the inning by inducing a ground ball off the bat of Tucker Brown to limit the damage to two runs.

Front Royal left the bases full again in the second, and Page settled down from there, though he was only able to make it through four innings due to the high early pitch count. (more…)

A two-run Dykota Spiess double gave Waynesboro a 3-2 fourth-inning lead, but a pair of unearned Front Royal runs in the bottom of the fourth gave the Cardinals a lead they would not relinquish in what became a 5-3 Front Royal win Wednesday night.

The loss is the fifth in a row for the Generals, who are now three games back of South Division leader Staunton.

Nate Young (1-1) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up all five Front Royal runs, two of them earned, in five and a third innings. Cameron Finch kept the Generals close with two and two-thirds innings of relief.

Jonathan Armold (4-0) earned the win for Front Royal, giving up three runs on seven hits in seven innings pitched.

Tyler Vanderheiden notched his fifth save with a scoreless ninth in which he struck out the side.

Spiess had two hits to pace the Waynesboro offense, which continues to struggle. The Generals are 12th in the league in hitting with a .239 team batting average and also last in the league in runs scored with 55.

Front Royal got to Waynesboro starter Chastin Akers early and cruised to a 9-3 win in the deciding Game 3 of the teams’ first-round Valley League playoff series on Saturday night.

The Generals trailed 2-0 after one, but had a chance in the third to make it a game when a two-out walk to Chase Worthington loaded the bases for T.J. Kuban. Kuban flied out to deep right to leave the bases loaded, and Front Royal seized control with a threespot in the bottom of the third that knocked out Akers (1-1).

Waynesboro left 12 runners on base for the game.

First-team All-Valley outfielder Drew Turocy had three hits for Waynesboro.

The loss ends Waynesboro’s 2010 season.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Tim Leather had a rocky top of the first in his first start of the season, but after getting out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam with no damage, Leather was dominant, pitching seven scoreless innings to push Waynesboro to a 4-3 win over Front Royal in Game 2 of the teams’ first-round playoff series Friday night.

The win means there will be a deciding Game 3 Saturday night in Front Royal. First pitch in Bing Crosby Stadium is at 7:30 p.m.

Leather (1-0) also had to work his way out of a second-and-third, one-out situation in the third, striking out Cardinals’ cleanup hitter James Roche and getting Pete Greskoff to fly out to right. The Generals then put up a threespot in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Colin Harrington, a base on balls issued by Front Royal starter Ricky Ott (2-3) to Cody Hudson, and a wild RBI single by Grant Fillipitch that scored Harrington from second. On that play, Cards’ centerfielder Will Walsh tried to throw Hudson out at third base, but the ball hit Hudson on his slide into the bag and got away from third baseman Steve Rogers. Hudson scored, and Rogers’ throw home also got away from catcher Andy Drexel, allowing Fillipitch to advance to third, where he scored when Drew Turocy hit a sacrifice fly to left.

The Generals made it 4-0 in the fourth on another sac-fly RBI, this one off the bat of Harrington, scoring designated hitter Haskell Fink.

Leather handed a 4-0 lead to the bullpen in the eighth, but Front Royal got to the first man out of the pen, Zach McElroy, getting back-to-back doubles by Roche and Greskoff and an RBI groundout by A.J. Albee to make it 4-3 Waynesboro. Mark Lamm got the final two outs of the eighth, then closer Andrew Blackwell pitched a scoreless ninth, getting Matt Holland to fly out to Hudson in left to end it.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Waynesboro and Front Royal got in an inning Wednesday night before the rains came and washed away the rest of Game 2 of their first-round Valley League playoff matchup.

The game will resume in the second inning Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field.

Both teams went down in order 1-2-3 in the first inning. Front Royal cleanup hitter James Roche had a 3-0 count from Generals starting pitcher Tim Leather when the game was put into delay by a thunderstorm around 7:20 p.m.

By 7:40 p.m., the field was unplayable, with standing water on the infield dirt at shortstop and second base.

Heavy rains in the forecast for later Wednesday night also factored into the lengthened delay.