The 11-3 Royals win felt a lot, lot worse.

“We hadn’t broken four bats in two weeks,” Generals coach Derek McDaniel said after the loss, which was decided early.

A three-run fourth and two-run fifth chased starter Adam Curtis (4-3), who gave up seven runs on 10 hits in four and a third innings.

The longball did a good bit of the damage for Winchester, which got two homers from Alex Lakatos and a third from Nathan Minnich, whose two-run shot in the ninth inning came moments after Waynesboro left the bases loaded at the end of a two-run eighth that had given the home fans some life.

Another stat that you don’t want to write home about: Shane Halley hit into four double plays in five at-bats.

The loss, the fourth in a row for the Generals, drops Waynesboro (17-15) into a first-place tie in the Southern Division with Staunton, a 4-3 winner over Haymarket Thursday night.

Waynesboro travels to Haymarket on Friday for a day-night doubleheader.

Waynesboro led 2-1 in the fifth when a Ben Hammer RBI single plated Brady Wilson to tie the game at 2. The sixth began with reliever Adam Curtis (1-2) issuing a leadoff walk to Brig Tison. An infield single by Gibby Briones and an error by Curtis gave Winchester runners at second and third with nobody out. A Brady Wilson RBI single and a K’shawn Smith sacrifice fly made it 4-2 Winchester. An Alex Lakatos single scored WIlson with two outs to make it 5-2.

The Royals added an insurance run in the eighth on a Nathan Minnich RBI fielder’s choice.

Waynesboro got a run in the ninth on a sacrifice-fly RBI by Scott Wilcox scoring MJ Sartin, who had tripled to lead off the inning.

Generals starter Tavis Bruce gave up two runs on six hits in five innings. Sartin had two hits for Waynesboro, which has now lost four in a row to fall to 6-7 on the season.

Sean Bouthilette (2-1) earned the win for Winchester, giving up two runs on four hits in six innings while striking out eight.

Story by Chris Graham

A three-run sixth got Waynesboro back in the game, but a ninth-inning rally ended in dramatic fashion with Cody Hudson thrown out trying to steal third with two outs, sending the Generals to a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Winchester Saturday night.

The Royals had jumped out to a 6-1 lead with a three-run fifth off starting pitcher Brian Atkins seeming to give them control. The Generals scored three in the sixth, with T.J. Kuban getting things going with a two-out single. Devin Smith worked his way back from an 0-2 count off Winchester starter Matt Zahel (2-0) to reach on a base on balls. Jared King, who had already doubled twice, tripled on a 1-2 count to score Kuban and Smith. King then scored when Winchester centerfielder Kevin Brashears lost a Haskell Fink flyball in the lights.

Waynesboro got two on with two out in the seventh with singles by Jon Clinard and Grant Fillipitch, but Kuban lined to second to end that threat. The Generals were able to send the winning run to the plate in the ninth when Fillipitch came up with two on and two outs. Hudson was thrown out at third trying to steal on the first pitch to Fillipitch.

Atkins (1-4) took the loss, working seven and two-thirds innings and giving up six runs on 12 hits.

Story by Chris Graham

Waynesboro rallied late to cut an early eight-run Winchester lead to two, but that was as close as the Generals would get in a 15-12 road loss Thursday night.

Starting pitcher Michael Reed (0-3) was touched up for eight runs, all earned, in the first, but Waynesboro was able to get the margin down to 13-11 in the seventh when Grant Fillipitch homered to left field.

A two-run Cody Gaskill homer in the eighth off Generals closer Andrew Blackwell made it 15-11 Winchester. Drew Turocy singled home Jon Clinard from second with two outs in the ninth to make it 15-12, but Cody Hudson struck out swinging to end it.

Fillipitch, Turocy and Zephan Guyear all had three hits for Waynesboro, and T.J. Kuban had a three-run double in the sixth that was a big part of the rally that got Waynesboro back into the game.

Story by Chris Graham

Raymond Church hit his first home run of the season in the top of the 13th inning to lift Winchester to a wild 7-6 win over Waynesboro at Mathers Park.

Church hit his homer off reliever Drew Turocy (0-2) with two outs in the 13th. The Generals had a golden opportunity to win in the bottom of the 12th when they loaded the bases with two outs, but a sinking liner to right-center off the bat of Grant Fillipitch landed in the glove of Winchester rightfielder Tim Cross to end that threat.

Waynesboro battled back from an early 6-1 deficit with the big hit being a two-out, two-run double in the seventh by Zephan Guyear that made it 6-4 Winchester.

It was 6-5 in the ninth when the Generals loaded the bases with nobody out. Reliever Dylan Ward struck out Cody Hudson to get a big first out in the inning, but Alan Stoupa tied it with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Turocy and made it 6-6.

The Waynesboro bullpen was big in the comeback as well, giving up just two runs in eight and two-thirds innings.

Stephen Cooke (1-1) picked up the win with three innings of one-hit relief out of the Royals bullpen.

Story by Chris Graham

A two-out, ninth-inning RBI single by Cody Gaskill capped a late Winchester rally and propelled the Royals to a 9-8 win over Waynesboro Friday night.

The Generals (3-3) led 8-3 after a three-run rally in the fourth highlighted by a two-run double off the bat of Grant Fillipitch. Winchester (4-3) answered with four in the bottom of the fourth, the big blow being a three-run triple by Steve Sabins off Waynesboro starting pitcher Jeremy Fitzgerald.

A Sabins sacrifice-fly RBI tied the game at 8 in the fifth and set up Gaskill’s ninth-inning heroics.

Fitzgerald gave up 10 hits and eight runs – four earned – in five innings of work. Drew Turocy (0-1) took the loss, giving up the run in the ninth at the end of an otherwise solid two and two-thirds innings of work out of the pen.

The Winchester bullpen put out the fire after a rocky start by Chris Nunn, who gave up eight runs, all earned, in three and a third innings. Relievers Stephen Cooke and Matt Zahel pitched five and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball out of the Royals’ pen.