Generals win, force deciding game in playoff series

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Tim Leather had a rocky top of the first in his first start of the season, but after getting out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam with no damage, Leather was dominant, pitching seven scoreless innings to push Waynesboro to a 4-3 win over Front Royal in Game 2 of the teams’ first-round playoff series Friday night.

The win means there will be a deciding Game 3 Saturday night in Front Royal. First pitch in Bing Crosby Stadium is at 7:30 p.m.

Leather (1-0) also had to work his way out of a second-and-third, one-out situation in the third, striking out Cardinals’ cleanup hitter James Roche and getting Pete Greskoff to fly out to right. The Generals then put up a threespot in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Colin Harrington, a base on balls issued by Front Royal starter Ricky Ott (2-3) to Cody Hudson, and a wild RBI single by Grant Fillipitch that scored Harrington from second. On that play, Cards’ centerfielder Will Walsh tried to throw Hudson out at third base, but the ball hit Hudson on his slide into the bag and got away from third baseman Steve Rogers. Hudson scored, and Rogers’ throw home also got away from catcher Andy Drexel, allowing Fillipitch to advance to third, where he scored when Drew Turocy hit a sacrifice fly to left.

The Generals made it 4-0 in the fourth on another sac-fly RBI, this one off the bat of Harrington, scoring designated hitter Haskell Fink.

Leather handed a 4-0 lead to the bullpen in the eighth, but Front Royal got to the first man out of the pen, Zach McElroy, getting back-to-back doubles by Roche and Greskoff and an RBI groundout by A.J. Albee to make it 4-3 Waynesboro. Mark Lamm got the final two outs of the eighth, then closer Andrew Blackwell pitched a scoreless ninth, getting Matt Holland to fly out to Hudson in left to end it.

Generals game delayed to Thursday by storms

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Waynesboro and Front Royal got in an inning Wednesday night before the rains came and washed away the rest of Game 2 of their first-round Valley League playoff matchup.

The game will resume in the second inning Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field.

Both teams went down in order 1-2-3 in the first inning. Front Royal cleanup hitter James Roche had a 3-0 count from Generals starting pitcher Tim Leather when the game was put into delay by a thunderstorm around 7:20 p.m.

By 7:40 p.m., the field was unplayable, with standing water on the infield dirt at shortstop and second base.

Heavy rains in the forecast for later Wednesday night also factored into the lengthened delay.

Generals fall in Game 1, 6-2

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A two-RBI Alan Stoupa single gave Waynesboro a 2-1 sixth-inning lead, but Front Royal responded with four in the bottom of the sixth, the big blow a two-out, three-run homer by Sean Jamieson, and the Royals took Game 1 of the teams’ Valley League first-round playoff series, 6-2, Tuesday night.

Jarryd Summers (2-2) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up five runs, one earned, on four hits. An error by shortstop Chase Worthington on a grounder by Cardinals cleanup hitter James Roche that came after a leadoff single by Matt Holland helped open the way for the Jamieson homer, which followed an RBI single by Pete Greskoff, a sacrifice bunt by Andy Drexel and a strikeout of A.J. Albee.

Blake Ford (3-3) got the win for Front Royal, giving up two runs on nine hits in six and two-thirds innings.

Game 2 of the Front Royal-Waynesboro playoff series is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.

Waynesboro splits with Harrisonburg, earns #5 seed in playoffs

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.

Generals get win in first game of Sunday doubleheader

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Chastin Akers picked six strong innings in his first start of the Valley League season, and Waynesboro got the win in the first of two on Sunday, knocking off Covington, 6-4.

Akers (1-0) gave up three runs on seven hits in his second appearance of the season. The 6-7 lefty from Concord got some help early as the Generals scored three runs in the bottom of the first aided by a pair of Covington errors, including one on a one-out grounder by Drew Turocy that allowed Colin Harrington and Cody Hudson to score.

Chase Worthington had a pair of sacrifice-fly RBIs for Waynesboro, which had already clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night when Woodstock lost to Winchester.

The win pushes Waynesboro for the moment into fifth place a half-game ahead of idle Harrisonburg.

The Generals host Staunton at 7 p.m. in their regular-season home finale.

Thursday’s game postponed due to weather

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net 

The Covington Lumberjacks-Waynesboro Generals game scheduled for Thursday has been postponed after Waynesboro was hit by a severe storm Thursday afternoon.

The game will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. as part of a day-night doubleheader. Waynesboro will host Covington at 1 p.m., and then play at home against the Staunton Braves in the regular-season home finale at 7 p.m.

Five-run rally lifts Waynesboro to wild 15-14 win

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

A four-run top of the 12th seemed to give Woodstock one of the wildest games in the 87-year history of the Valley League. But we weren’t even close in terms of how wild things were going to get.

Five consecutive two-out walks, the last one drawn by nine-hole hitter Jon Clinard, gave Waynesboro an improbable 15-14 win at Mathers Park Friday night.

Clinard had led off the 12th with a walk off Zachary Tobolowski. Colin Harrington followed with a single, and Chase Worthington flew out to center for the first out of the inning. Drew Turocy picked up his fourth hit of the night with a flare to short left-center that loaded the bases. Grant Fillipitch followed with an RBI fielders choice that scored Clinard and made it 14-11, but left the Generals with two outs.

That’s when things got crazy.

Devin Smith walked to reload the bases, and Chase Cowell, a catcher, was summoned in with the River Bandits short on available pitchers to get the final out. Waynesboro reliever Andrew Blackwell, in his second plate appearance of the season, drew a walk to force in a run that made it 14-12. Jared King walked on a 3-2 pitch to draw the Generals to within 14-13. Catcher Alan Stoupa walked to tie the game at 14, leading to another pitching change, with second baseman Foster Dunigan brought in to face Clinard. Dunigan wasn’t close on any of his four offerings to Clinard on the walkoff.

The win improves Waynesboro to 18-17 on the season and gives the Generals a three-game playoff-berth cushion between where the Generals are in fifth place and Woodstock and Staunton, an 11-4 loser at Winchester on Friday, are at 15-20 and in a tie for ninth place, with nine games to go in the 2010 regular season.

Blackwell (2-1) picked up the win in relief.

Generals suffer Braves beatdown

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

The Staunton Braves might still be on the outside looking in as far as the 2010 Valley League playoff picture is concerned, but they also still own the Waynesboro Generals.

The Braves blasted Waynesboro 12-1 Thursday night in front of 1,111 at John Moxie Memorial Stadium to post their 10th win in the last 12 games in the rivalry series.

It was done largely with small ball. Only one of Staunton’s nine hits went for extra bases, but the Braves stole 11 bases on 12 attempts.

Jarryd Summers (1-1) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up four runs on two hits and six walks in six innings pitched.

Ben Alsup (4-0) picked up the win for Staunton with five and a third innings of shutout baseball.

Rapids down Generals, 4-2

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

The eighth inning was cruel to Waynesboro Tuesday. A failed suicide squeeze in the top half of the inning and some successful small ball by Rockbridge in the bottom half proved to be the difference as the Rapids defeated the Generals 4-2.

A leadoff double by Jared King had Waynesboro, then down 2-1, in business. A Colin Harrington sacrifice bunt moved King to third with one out. Manager Derek McDaniel put the squeeze on with leadoff hitter Jon Clinard at the plate, but the 1-1 pitch was well outside the strike zone, and King was tagged out by Rockbridge catcher Dillon Way. Clinard then grounded out to end the inning.

A pair of infield hits by Way and Shane Davis led off the bottom of the eighth for Rockbridge. A wild pitch by reliever Justin Thompson moved the runners to second and third, and Andrew Siano followed with a two-RBI single that made it 4-1.

A two-out ninth-inning single by Chase Worthington scored Drew Turocy to make it 4-2 and bring the tying run to the plate, but T.J. Kuban grounded out to end it.

Michael Reed (0-4) took the loss for Waynesboro in a solid effort, giving up two runs, one earned, in six and two-thirds innings.

Chris Griener (2-2) picked up the win for Rockbridge, which has now won four in a row overall.

Generals split pair in Covington

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

Jaryd Summers was solid in his first start for Waynesboro, pitching five shutout innings in an 8-0 win for the Generals, who split a doubleheader with Covington Friday night. The Lumberjacks took game two of the doubleheader by a 4-2 final.

Summers, a 6-5, 220-pounder from West Virginia University, struck out seven and walked four while giving up two hits in five innings in the first game of the twinbill. Drew Turocy paced the offense with a 3-for-3 night at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored.

Brian Atkins (1-3) was the tough-luck loser in game two. Atkins had a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth on the strength of a two-run single by Haskell Fink in the top of the inning, but a Richie Rodriguez single tied it at 2-2, and a two-run single by Giuseppe Papaccio broke the tie.

Casey Selsor (3-0) got the win for Covington, and Andre Vasquez got his second save of the season with a 1-2-3 seventh.

The games were both seven innings each to accommodate the doubleheader, which included a game made up from a rainout in Waynesboro earlier in the week.

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