Ryan Retz was 3-for-5 with a homer and three runs batted in, and Javi Salas notched his first win with five strong innings as Luray defeated Waynesboro 7-1 Saturday night.

The Generals (17-12) maintain their one-game lead in the Southern Division over second-place Staunton, which lost 4-0 to Harrisonburg.

The league now takes the next two days off for the all-star break. The Valley League All-Star Game is set for Sunday in Haymarket. On Monday, all-stars from the Valley League and the Cal Ripken League meet in Harrisonburg for the second Mid-Alantic Classic. (more…)

Another rough outing for starting pitcher Nate Young put Waynesboro in a hole, and a late comeback attempt fell short as the Generals dropped a 15-9 decision at Luray Tuesday night.

Young (1-2) gave up seven runs on six hits in two innings of work, and Luray led 13-1 after six innings behind starter Andrew Armstrong (3-2), who held Waynesboro to an unearned run in six innings of work on the mound.

The Generals cut into the lead off the Wranglers bullpen, getting a pair of RBI singles by catcher Michael Davis and an RBI groundout and an RBI single by Dykota Spiess. (more…)

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.

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.”

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.