Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Taylor Sandeur and Drew Turocy were first-team All-Valley League selections, and Cody Hudson was named to the All-Valley second team, in selections announced on Saturday.

Sandefur was dominant on the mound for Waynesboro in 2010, going 7-0 in 13 appearances, including eight starts, with a 2.26 ERA. Sandefur, a 6-2, 245-pound freshman from Western Carolina, had 60 strikeouts in 59 and two-thirds innings pitched and allowed opposing hitters to bat just .215 on the season.

Turocy, a 6-3, 190-pound junior centerfielder from Akron, led the Generals in batting average at .370 with a home run and 31 RBIs. Turocy also had eight stolen bases in 10 attempts and seven outfield assists.

Hudson, a 5-11, 183-pound freshman leftfielder from Austin Peay, hit .303 with 24 RBI, a team-high 36 runs scored and 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts.

A notable omission from the All-Valley teams was Waynesboro third baseman Grant Fillipitch, who led the team with six home runs, 34 RBI and a .497 slugging percentage while hitting .302 on the season.

Named first-team All-Valley League at third base was Mike Garza from Woodstock (.388, 3 HR, 30 RBI), and named to the second-team at third base was Brant Jones (.356, 5 HR, 34 RBI).

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
 

A four-run fifth gave Waynesboro the lead, and a four-run ninth provided the final cushion in a 9-3 win at first-place Haymarket Saturday night.

The Senators had jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a three-run fourth off Generals starter Taylor Sandefur (5-0), but Waynesboro rallied in the fifth with an inning highlighted by a two-run triple by Cody Hudson, an RBI sac fly by Zephan Guyear and an RBI bases-loaded walk by Terrell Thompson.

A Guyear RBI single that plated Drew Turocy made it 5-3 in the sixth, which is where things stood until the ninth, when the Waynesboro offense erupted for four more runs with RBI singles by Thompson, Jon Clinard and Grant Fillipitch and an RBI sac fly by Hudson.

Sandefur went seven innings and gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out five.

Turocy had a 4-for-6 night at the plate, and catcher Alan Stoupa was 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

Four Generals will represent Waynesboro in the 2010 Valley League All-Star Game set for Sunday night in Harrisonburg.

Austin Peay freshman Cody Hudson, Western Carolina freshman Taylor Sandefur, Patrick Henry Community College sophomore Terrell Thompson and Akron junior Andrew Turocy were selected for the game, the league announced on Wednesday.

Hudson, a 5-11, 183-pounder from Germantown, Tenn., is hitting .329 with a .422 on-base percentage and .424 slugging percentage with 15 RBI and team highs in runs (23) and stolen bases (nine).

Hudson is second in the league in runs scored and tied for fifth in the league in stolen bases.

Sandefur, a 6-2, 245-pounder from Mechanicsville, has a sterling 4-0 record and 2.09 ERA in nine appearances on the mound, including five starts, with 41 strikeouts in 38 and a third innings pitched. The league is hitting .232 against him in 2010.

The four wins posted by Sandefur ties him for the league lead in that category. His 41 strikeouts and 38 and a third innings pitched are second each in those categories, and his 2.09 ERA is fourth in the league overall.

Thompson, a 5-7, 160-pound Waynesboro native, is hitting .345 with a .435 on-base percentage and .448 slugging percentage with 12 runs scored and three outfield assists, including two assists that cut down opposing runners trying to score.

Turocy, a 6-3, 190-pounder from Canfield, Ohio, is hitting .354 with a .417 on-base percentage and .422 slugging percentage with 15 RBI, a team-leading 34 hits, four stolen bases and three outfield assists.

The 34 hits is second in the league in that category.