Agony! Royals beat Generals in 13-inning heartbreaker

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
 

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.