Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A two-RBI Alan Stoupa single gave Waynesboro a 2-1 sixth-inning lead, but Front Royal responded with four in the bottom of the sixth, the big blow a two-out, three-run homer by Sean Jamieson, and the Royals took Game 1 of the teams’ Valley League first-round playoff series, 6-2, Tuesday night.

Jarryd Summers (2-2) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up five runs, one earned, on four hits. An error by shortstop Chase Worthington on a grounder by Cardinals cleanup hitter James Roche that came after a leadoff single by Matt Holland helped open the way for the Jamieson homer, which followed an RBI single by Pete Greskoff, a sacrifice bunt by Andy Drexel and a strikeout of A.J. Albee.

Blake Ford (3-3) got the win for Front Royal, giving up two runs on nine hits in six and two-thirds innings.

Game 2 of the Front Royal-Waynesboro playoff series is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A seven-run fourth rallied Waynesboro from a 4-1 deficit in game two of a doubleheader at Harrisonburg and earned the Generals a split with the Turks on Monday.

The split gives Waynesboro the #5 seed in the Valley League playoffs, which get going Tuesday night with the Generals traveling to Front Royal to take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals in Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series.

Waynesboro got complete-game seven-inning efforts from a pair of pitchers making their first starts of the season, Drew Turocy, who took the tough-luck 1-0 loss in Game 1 on Monday against the Turks, and Devin Smith, who shut out Harrisonburg in the final four innings after giving up three in the first and a single run in the third.

Turocy, the Generals’ starting centerfielder most of the season, keyed the seven-run fourth-inning rally in Game 2 with a three-run homer to right field, his first homer of the season, and the first homer by a General other than Grant Fillipitch, who finished the regular season with six home runs in 2010.

Turocy (0-2) lost Game 1 despite giving up just one run on seven hits in six innings of work. Turocy struck out four and did not issue a walk in the effort.

Smith (1-1) gave up four runs on six hits in seven innings pitched in Game 2. Smith struck out three and walked one.

The split of the doubleheader left Waynesboro and Harrisonburg tied for fifth in the league standings with identical 22-22 records. Waynesboro earned the #5 seed by virtue of their 3-2 advantage over Harrisonburg in their head-to-head series in 2010.

#4 seed Front Royal finished a game ahead of the two teams with a 23-21 record. The Cards and the Generals split their season series at 2-2. Front Royal won the first two matchups between the teams, 3-2 in 11 innings on June 15 in Front Royal and 8-5 on June 29 in Waynesboro, and Waynesboro winning the final two, 9-6 at Front Royal on July 15 and 4-3 in Waynesboro on July 28.

Game 1 of the Waynesboro-Front Royal playoff series is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bing Crosby Stadium in Front Royal.

Game 2 will be played at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.

Game 3, if necessary, would be played on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Front Royal.

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.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

Cody Hudson had three hits and two RBI, and Daniel Bradshaw pitched into the eighth inning as Waynesboro rolled past Front Royal 9-6 Thursday night.

Bradshaw (2-0) ended up being charged with six earned runs in seven and two-thirds innings of work after giving up a threespot in the eighth, but his outing was solid nonetheless.

The offense staked him to a 9-1 lead with a five-run fifth that was highlighted by a pair of two-run singles by Hudson and Jon Clinard.

Drew Turocy also had three hits and scored two runs for Waynesboro, which has now won eight out of its last 11.

Greg Smith picked up his first save of the season in relief of Bradshaw.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

Four unearned runs on four Waynesboro errors spelled the difference as Front Royal defeated the Generals 8-5 Tuesday night at Mathers Park.

Front Royal also committed four errors in the matchup of the two teams with the worst fielding percentages in the Valley League, but the Cardinals took better advantage of the Waynesboro miscues. The defensive lapses particularly hampered the efforts of Generals starting pitcher Brian Atkins (1-2), who gave up six runs, three earned, on 10 hits in five innings of work.

Even with the issues out in the field, Waynesboro was in the game until the end. Down 8-3 entering the ninth, the Generals pushed two runs across against reliever Chris Pena and sent the tying run to the plate in the form of Zephan Guyear, who grounded out to second on the first pitch from reliever Kyle Scallion, who recorded his first save of the season.

Dan Smith (2-1) got the win for Front Royal, working five and two-thirds innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on six Waynesboro hits.

Cody Hudson and Grant Fillipitch each had two hits to pace the Generals offense.

Greg VanSickler was 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored for Front Royal.