Sandefur wins seventh, Generals beat Luray, 2-1

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Taylor Sandefur was the man again for Waynesboro, going eight and a third innings and giving up a run on five Luray hits to get his seventh win in a 2-1 Generals victory Sunday night.

The win didn’t come without some drama in the ninth. Sandefur (7-0) hit Luray catcher David Villasuso with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Then after getting Mike Jones to fly out to center for the first out, Joel Capote reached base on an error by Waynesboro third baseman Grant Fillipitch. Andrew Blackwell came in to close the game out, but he walked the first batter that he faced, Nick Rickles, before striking out Michael Broad and getting the final out on a ground ball off the bat of Jonathan Murphy.

Blackwell recorded his third save of the season with his effort in the ninth.

Fillipitch had two hits and an RBI for Waynesboro, which improves to 19-18 on the season with the win.

The Generals have Monday off before going back out on the road on Tuesday with a game at Haymarket.

7 E’s, but Sandefur, Generals, beat Luray

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Luray was in the midst of scoring four runs without the benefit of a hit in a wild first inning, and Waynesboro starter Taylor Sandefur needed something to go his way.

He got Ryan Lashley to ground to T.J. Kuban for out number three, then proceeded to mow down Wranglers for the next six innings, taking a no-hit bid into the seventh of an improbable 7-5 win Monday night at Mathers Park.

“Errors are part of the game. Those things are going to happen. You’ve just got to bear down and pound the zone and let your defense make plays behind you,” said Sandefur, who had among the more interesting stat lines that you’ll see to show for his efforts: seven innings pitched, five runs, one earned, two hits, eight strikeouts, three hit batters, W.

What the Waynesboro defense couldn’t do – committing a Valley League-high seven errors, six in the first three innings – the Waynesboro offense could. The Generals steadily chipped away at the first-inning fourspot off Luray starter Matt Laney, who had come into the game with a 2-0 record and 0.63 ERA, scoring a run in the first on a sacrifice fly-RBI by Chase Worthington, another in the third on another sac fly-RBI by Drew Turocy, two in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Jon Clinard and a run-scoring single by Cody Hudson, then three in the fifth on an error that allowed Worthington to score and a two-run single by Clinard that plated Alan Stoupa and Colin Harrington.

At this point, the attention shifted back to Sandefur, who still hadn’t given up a hit despite the four in the run column on the Luray part of the scoreboard.

“I had a good pace and good rhythm going,” said Sandefur, who improved to 6-0 with the win. “Alan (Stoupa, his catcher) called a good game. He called it, and I threw it. We were on the same wavelength, and we just kept it going.”

Luray catcher Nick Rickles broke up the no-hitter with a two-out flare to short left in the seventh that fell just outside the reach of Clinard. He came around to score on a single by Michael Broad before Sandefur rallied to get the last out of the inning on a strikeout of cleanup hitter Jeff Jefferson.

Despite the early trouble, Sandefur was prepared to go back out in the eighth and ninth to pursue the no-hitter.

“I want to be strong for the stretch drive, but I was ready to go back out until they got the hits in the seventh,” Sandefur said.

As for the win in a game with his D committing seven errors behind him: “Yeah, that’s a first for me,” Sandefur said, smiling. “It’s a credit to this team that we could pull together and get this one.”

Luray-Waynesboro game postponed … again

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

For the second time in four nights, a scheduled home game for the Waynesboro Generals against the Luray Wranglers has been postponed.

The 7 p.m. Monday game has been postponed due to rain. The game has been rescheduled for Monday, July 19, at 7 p.m.

Free tickets given out as part of a special Senior Night promotion sponsored by Kevin Blackburn Photography will be honored at any home game on the schedule in the 2010 season.

Tonight’s game postponed

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

The Waynesboro Generals-Luray Wranglers game scheduled for Friday night has been postponed to Monday night. The postponement is the result of several Luray players being ill.

The game will be played at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field at 7 p.m. Monday.

Free tickets given out as part of a special Senior Night promotion sponsored by Kevin Blackburn Photography will be honored at the gate Monday night.

Wranglers handle Generals

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

A six-run second gave Luray the early lead, and the Wranglers cruised to a 9-2 win over Waynesboro Friday night.

Starter Jeremy Fitzgerald (1-2) gave up seven runs, six earned, in two and two-thirds innings of work for Waynesboro, which lost its fourth in a row to fall into a tie for eighth place in the Valley League with Staunton, a 2-0 winner over Haymarket Friday night.

Johnny Sedlock (1-0) got the win with two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.

Terrell Thompson was 3-for-5 for the Generals at the plate.

Generals ride solid pitching to win over Luray

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

Taylor Sandefur pitched seven and two-thirds strong innings, and Waynesboro was able to overcome a wild eighth-inning rally by Luray, en route to posting a 3-2 win over the Wranglers at Mathers Park Monday night.

Sandefur (2-0) had a shutout going into the eighth when Luray put runners on second and third with two out. Luray leaoff hitter Justin Fredejas hit what appeared to be an inning-ending grounder to third, but umpire C.R. Thompson ruled that third baseman Grant Fillipitch’s throw had pulled first baseman T.J. Kuban off the bag at first. Kuban briefly protested the call by showing Thompson that he had fieled the throw cleanly, and in the process a hustling Raiko Alfonso scored all the way from second base to turn what had been a 3-0 Generals lead into a 3-2 ballgame.

Sandefur was then lifted for Mark Lamm, who gave up a single to left to Eric Phillips after Fredejas had stolen second. Fredejas tried to score on the play, but Waynesboro leftfielder Terrell Thompson gunned Fredejas down at the plate for the third out of the inning.

Lam retired the Wranglers in the ninth to record his first save of the season.

Sandefur lowered his ERA to 0.76 in 23.2 innings this season.

Drew Turocy had two hits for Waynesboro.