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

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
 

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.