Summers, Lamm hold off Cardinals in 4-3 win

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.

Generals give back

Trio share book, experiences with students at Berkeley Glenn

Story by Jenny Hypes
jenny.hypes@emu.edu
 

Never give up when things get rough. That was the moral of the story in the book Wilma Unlimited, read by three members of the Waynesboro Generals baseball team to a group of fourth- and fifth-grade students at Berkeley Glenn Elementary School.

The players, who are being hosted by the Brian and Diane Lundstrom family, came in bright and early Thursday morning to read and talk to the students. The story that they shared was about Wilma Rudolph, who was a three-time gold medalist in track, born prematurely and stricken with polio at a young age.

Coming in and reading to the children is not something the guys had to do, Mark Lamm, a junior at Vanderbilt, said.

“It’s a good cause. This was a good story, and it gives these kids a chance to hear it from someone else other than their teacher. We thought it would be good to do something to give back,” Lamm said.

After the book was read, the students had a short discussion about the meaning of the book. When giving other examples about rough times and not giving up, Diane Lundstrom, a teacher at BGES, turned to the Generals and said, “I’m sure these boys have had a hard game every now and then.”

Michael Reed, a sophomore at LSU, replied, “Story of my life!”

Following that discussion, the children were given an opportunity to ask the Generals questions about baseball, the main one being, “How fast do you pitch? Lamm answered, “We all pitch right around 90 mph, which is faster than most people drive.”

A look of astonishment came across the children’s faces as they tried to think of something else to ask.

To show their appreciation for the players coming in and talking to them, each of the children made a card, complete with a picture of a flaming baseball, for the Generals. In return the men gave a little more of their time to answer some more questions about baseball and sign the hats, bats and baseballs the kids had brought in. They also awarded all nine children with passes to get into any General game for free.

Fillipitch powers Generals to 6-4 win over Haymarket

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

John Fillipitch may never get to leave.

“Some of the guys were talking about that in the dugout. He picked a good weekend to be here,” said his son, Grant, who hit two homers with dad in the stands at Mathers Park to lead the Waynesboro Generals to a 6-4 win over the visiting Haymarket Senators Saturday night. Read more

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.