Waynesboro could muster only four hits on the night, and Harrisonburg won another tight game with the Generals with a 6-4 decision Wednesday night.

The Turks’ Justin Somers (2-1) struck out eight but walked seven in six and a third innings on the mound. Somers was able to pitch in and then out of trouble until a pair of one-out walks in the seventh chased him and set up an RBI single by Matt Petrone and an RBI sacrifice fly by Brad Noland that brought the Generals to within 5-4. (more…)

Four unearned runs in the ninth capped a five-run Harrisonburg rally that lifted the Turks to a 3-2 win over Waynesboro Friday night.

The Generals had led most of the way, jumping out to a 2-0 margin in the third on a two-out, two-run double by Chase Worthington.

A Tyler McFarland homer in the seventh brought Harrisonburg to within 2-1. The Turks tied it in the eighth on an RBI fielder’s choice by Jay Gonzalez. Waynesboro retook the lead at 3-2 on a two-out double by Scott Wilcox that scored Travis Echols, but Wilcox was thrown out at third trying to extend the hit to a triple. (more…)

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.

Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Tonight’s scheduled game between the Waynesboro Generals and the Harrisonburg Turks has been postponed due to rain and storms.

No makeup date for the game has been set.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

A bases-clearing double by Jon Clinard provided the early fireworks, and Taylor Sandefur made it stand up with a dominating performance on the mound, as Waynesboro coasted to a 9-3 victory at Harrisonburg Saturday night.

Sandefur (4-0) struck out nine Turks in seven innings while allowing three runs on seven hits. He was staked to an early 1-0 lead when Grant Fillipitch tripled with two outs in the first and came around to score on an RBI single by Drew Turocy.

Harrisonburg tied it at 1-1 in the third on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Brown that scored Emilio Pagan. Waynesboro answered with four in the fourth, all with two out. With two out and nobody on, T.J. Kuban worked a walk on a full-count pitch, then Alan Stoupa singled. The inning was extended when an apparent inning-ending ground ball off the bat of Colin Harrington was bobbled by Harrisonburg shortstop Joe Huber, loading the bases. Terrell Thompson was hit with the next pitch by Turks starter Aaron Luchterhand (3-2) to make it 2-1 Waynesboro. Clinard lined a 1-0 pitch down the leftfield line to clear the bases and make it 5-1.

Sandefur took control from there, allowing a twospot in the Turks fifth but putting up goose eggs in the sixth and seventh before handing the game over to the Generals bullpen. Justin Thompson and Andrew Blackwell put up scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to close the game out.

The win was the third in a row for the Generals, who have off-days on Sunday and Monday before returning to action at home on Tuesday against the Staunton Braves. We’ll bring you the action with a live webcast from Mathers Park beginning at 7 p.m.