Three Generals named to All-Valley teams
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).
Still waiting: Playoff berth on hold as Braves hold off Generals
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
David Gibson pitched seven strong innings, and Staunton took advantage of six walks surrendered by Waynesboro starter Michael Reed, as the Braves held off the Generals, 6-3, before a season-high crowd of 1,561 at John Moxie Memorial Stadium Friday night.
Waynesboro jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a two-run first-inning homer by third baseman Grant Fillipitch, his sixth of the season. The Braves tied it in the second at 2-2 on a pair of RBI singles by Brian Collins and Stephen Branca, then took control in the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out off Reed (0-5), then scoring when reliever Tim Leather hit Todd Brazeal with an 0-1 fastball and two outs later when Steve Scoby scored from third on a passed ball by catcher Alan Stoupa.
The lead was 6-2 in the seventh on a pair of run-scoring singles by Alex Guerra and Justin Bagbey. Waynesboro loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth off Gibson (1-1), but could only manage one run, on a two-out walk to T.J. Kuban by reliever Tyler Deetjen. Stoupa grounded out to end that threat, and Deetjen retired Waynesboro 1-2-3 in the ninth to close it out.
A Luray doubleheader sweep of Woodstock and a come-from-behind win by league-leading Haymarket over New Market Friday night has Waynesboro’s magic number for a playoff berth at one. The Generals are off on Saturday, and return to action on Sunday with a day-night, two-team doubleheader at Mathers Park, playing Covington in a makeup game for an early-week rainout at 1 p.m., then hosting Staunton at 7 p.m. in the regular-season home finale.
Generals fall to Royals, 6-4
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
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.
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 win at Haymarket
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.
Rally falls short for Waynesboro in 15-12 loss
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
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.
Braves dominate Generals, 6-1
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
A season-high Mathers Park crowd watched Staunton take control of the rivalry game with Waynesboro with three unearned runs as the Braves coasted to a 6-1 win over the Generals Tuesday night.
The Generals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Grant Fillipitch singled to center off Staunton starter Logan Dodds to score Terrell Thompson from second. The Braves tied it at 1-1 in the third when Alex Guerra scored from third on a two-out wild pitch by Waynesboro starter Jeremy Fitzgerald.
Staunton broke it open in the fifth, scoring three runs with two out, the big blows coming on a throwing error by Jon Clinard that allowed Armani Johnson to score from second and a two-run single by Patrick Braswell that made it 4-1.
A two-out, two-run sixth-inning single by nine-hole hitter Evan Ashley, who entered the game hitting .111 on the season, made it 6-1 and chased Fitzgerald (1-3).
Dodds (2-1) pitched eight strong innings for the win, giving up a run on seven hits while striking out six.
The attendance of 645 was 250 higher than the second-most-attended home game of the 2010 season at Mathers Park – on July 2, when Waynesboro drew 395 fans to see the Generals take on the Rockbridge Rapids.
Generals, Sandefur, coast in win at Harrisonburg
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
A bases-clearing double by Jon Clinard provided the early fireworks, and Taylor Sandefur made it stand up with a dominating performance on the mound, as Waynesboro coasted to a 9-3 victory at Harrisonburg Saturday night.
Sandefur (4-0) struck out nine Turks in seven innings while allowing three runs on seven hits. He was staked to an early 1-0 lead when Grant Fillipitch tripled with two outs in the first and came around to score on an RBI single by Drew Turocy.
Harrisonburg tied it at 1-1 in the third on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Brown that scored Emilio Pagan. Waynesboro answered with four in the fourth, all with two out. With two out and nobody on, T.J. Kuban worked a walk on a full-count pitch, then Alan Stoupa singled. The inning was extended when an apparent inning-ending ground ball off the bat of Colin Harrington was bobbled by Harrisonburg shortstop Joe Huber, loading the bases. Terrell Thompson was hit with the next pitch by Turks starter Aaron Luchterhand (3-2) to make it 2-1 Waynesboro. Clinard lined a 1-0 pitch down the leftfield line to clear the bases and make it 5-1.
Sandefur took control from there, allowing a twospot in the Turks fifth but putting up goose eggs in the sixth and seventh before handing the game over to the Generals bullpen. Justin Thompson and Andrew Blackwell put up scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to close the game out.
The win was the third in a row for the Generals, who have off-days on Sunday and Monday before returning to action at home on Tuesday against the Staunton Braves. We’ll bring you the action with a live webcast from Mathers Park beginning at 7 p.m.
