Gens Win 5th Straight In High Scoring Fashion

The Generals used a five run bottom of the eighth to pull away from the visiting Covington Lumberjacks for their fifth straight win.

Covington came to Integrity Home Mortgage Park at Kate Collins Field knowing the Gens were on a four game win streak, and the Jacks came out swinging. After getting the first batter to ground out, Christian Torres and Matthew Cocciadiferro singled to put runners at first and second for Domenic Boselli. Boselli worked the count full and then proceeded to hammer a fastball deep to left field for his second home run of the summer. The Jacks were out to a 3-0 lead.

The Generals, as it seems they’ve done all year, responded right away. Kobe Lopez (Florida International) worked his way on after striking out on a pitch that got away from the catcher. He stole second to put himself into scoring position for Seth Cannady (Florida International) with one out in the inning. Cannady singled to left field to put runners at the corners. Wes Clarke (South Carolina), the team leader in RBI, added to his total with a double to left centerfield. This put runners at second and third with one out in the inning. Jack Murphy (St. Mary’s) continued his hot hitting with a 2 RBI single that drove in Cannady and Clarke. This tied the score at 3.

Jackson Greene (Florida State) started things off with a walk and moved to second on a Connor Norby (East Carolina) single. Joey Kinker (Florida Gulf Coast) came up two batters later and dropped a single in to right field that scored Greene. This gave the Generals their first lead of the game.

Covington scored four straight runs with two in the third and two in the fourth. A couple of walks started out the top of the third for the Lumberjacks. They were both moved up a bag on a ground ball to first base that wasn’t hit well enough to try to turn a double play. Another walk loaded the bases before a fourth walk in the inning brought in the tying run. A sacrifice by Nick Cicci put the Lumberjacks in front 5-4 after three innings.

In the fourth, the Lumberjacks would lengthen their lead a bit. A ground ball to first base that glanced off of the actual base gave the Lumberjacks a base runner with a quirky single. The next ball was hit sharply on the ground right at the second baseman that looked like it would immediately clear the bases on a double play. Instead, the ball was booted and it put runners at the corners with nobody out. Two batters later, the Lumberjacks would use another sacrifice run to expand on their lead. On the next pitch, Christian Torres tried stealing second on a low pitch. When he realized he was toast, he stopped and headed back for first base. Kobe Lopez saw that and tried to field the throw from the catcher and throw in behind Torres. The ball hit Torres on the back and skipped into right field. Torres was able to move to second on the errant throw. He scored on the very next pitch on a ground ball that was just out of the reach of the second baseman for a single. This made the score 7-4 going into the bottom of the fourth.

The fourth inning got started with another walk to Jackson Greene. He moved to second base on a wild pitch, and with two outs in the inning, Kobe Lopez came up with an RBI single to left field. This brought the Gens a run closer. 7-5 was the score after four complete innings.

Finally in the fifth, the Gens pulled ahead and never looked back. Wes Clarke hit a ball into left center field for what looked to be a one-out single. But when the centerfielder took his time getting to the ball, Clarke took a hard round of first and headed for second base. He would avoid a tag with a slide to the inside part of second base and he turned a single into his second double. After a fly out for out number two, Bryson Worrell (East Carolina) worked his way on with a walk. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Ethan Cady (East Tennessee State). On the second pitch of the at-bat, Cady ripped a ball out towards the right field wall. It was hit hard enough, but was it high enough? That question was answered pretty quickly as the ball landed over the fence in a hurry. Cady had pulled the Gens in front by a run with his second homer of the summer. After five complete innings, the Gens led 8-7.

In the sixth, the Gens were able to get a little breathing room. After a lead off walk to Connor Norby, Kobe Lopez got himself into a 2-0 count and didn’t waste the advantage count. He hit a high, majestic blast to straight away left field. The two-run shot was Kobe’s first home run of the summer and it put the Gens ahead by three.

The Lumberjacks would put together one more rally to try and tie the game, or maybe even pull ahead. In the top of the eighth, a walk and two singles loaded the bases with nobody out in the inning. Christian Dearman (Florida International) came on to try and get the Generals out of the bases loaded jam. The first run of the inning came in on a fielder’s choice when the Gens tried to turn a double play, but were only able to get the runner at second for out number one. An error allowed the second run to score and put runners at first and second with only one out. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases and put the go ahead run at second base. Then Dearman really settled in. He got a shallow fly ball for the second out of the inning that Covington couldn’t tag up on. He then got another pop fly to center that was easily handled by Cannady. The Gens escaped the inning with a one run lead.

The Generals then broke it open in the bottom of the eighth to help everybody on the third base side breathe a little easier. Jackson Greene was hit by a pitch, Connor Norby picked up another single, and Joey Kinker singled over the shortstop’s head to load the bases with just one out. Seth Cannady and Wes Clarke both worked bases loaded RBI walks to put the first two runs of the inning on the board. Jack Murphy came up with an infield single on a nice diving stop by the Covington second baseman to only allow one run. Ethan Cady added to the run total with an infield single for his fourth RBI of the night. This scored Cannady, but an error by the second baseman on the same play also allowed Wes Clarke to score. That brought the score to its final total. The Gens brought home a 15-9 victory over their South Divison foe Covington Lumberjacks.

Key Performers for Covington:

Jonathon Barditch: 3-6, 2B, 2 R

Domenic Boselli: 1-3, HR, 5 RBI, 2 R

Christian Torres: 2-5, 2 R

Key Performers for Waynesboro:

Ethan Cady (East Tennessee State): 2-5, HR, 4 RBI, R

Wes Clarke (South Carolina): 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R

Jack Murphy (St. Mary’s): 2-5, 3 RBI

Kobe Lopez (Florida International): 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, SB

Jan Figueroa (Florida International): W (1-0), 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Christian Dearman (Florida International): SV (1), 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

 

The Generals (14-7) put their five game win streak on the line Saturday night when they travel down the road to Staunton to take on the Braves. First pitch is set for 7:30 pm.

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