Comeback Victory Over Harrisonburg Snaps 3-Game Skid

The Waynesboro Generals found themselves in familiar territory Tuesday night at Kate Collins Field. Through 3 and ½ innings, the Gens had the same amount of hits, but were trailing on the scoreboard 3-0. But this time things proved to be a good kind of different as the game went on.

Harrisonburg had scored two in the top of the second after Nick Parr (Oakland) had recorded the first two outs of the inning. The Turks came up with a single to right, a walk, an RBI single, and then the sacrifice the runner on first play came into effect. There were runners on first and third. The runner from first steals second. When the throw from the catcher goes to second base, the runner from first stops in his tracks. This allows time for the runner on third to attempt a steal of home. In this case, it worked successfully for Harrisonburg. After the steal of home, the score was 2-0 in favor of Harrisonburg.

The Turks would score their 3^rd unanswered run in the top of the 4^th after once again recording the first two outs of the inning. A 2-out hit-by-pitch, a walk, and an RBI single was enough for the Turks to make the score 3-0.

The Gens had been hitting just as much as the Turks, but hadn’t gotten the key hit…. Until the bottom of the 4^th. Dalton Wingo (UCF) started things off with a double to right center. Alex Brait (FGCU) drilled a triple into the right center gap right after. Two pitches later and Tyler Trovinger (Oakland) hit an RBI groundout to bring in Brait and tighten the score to 3-2.

In the middle innings, things got a little quiet with 4 half innings in a row of no scoring. In the top of the 7^th, the Turks were able to lengthen their lead to 4-2 on the strength of back-to-back singles by Austin Embler and Zach Little, followed by another single by Elian Merejo.

However in the bottom of the 7^th, the Gens were able to put together one of their most impressive innings all year. It started with a 1-out single by Jackson Webb (UCF) followed by another single by Tyler Bielamowicz (Houston). During the next at-bat, the Gens performed a double steal with Webb and Bielo. Kyle Wrighte (William & Mary) hit the ball to the shortstop to bring in Webb and move Bielo to third with the score now sitting at 4-3. The Gens would turn to Gabe Montenegro (Southern Miss) for the big two-out hit that they had been searching for what felt like all year. On a 1-0 count, Montenegro scorched a single into centerfield to tie the score at 4. The Gens weren’t quite finished yet. Andrew Orzel (Wofford) talked about his prior at-bat in an interview after the game. He said the pitcher threw him a fastball in a good spot to hit, but he was late. He vowed that if he threw him another pitch like that, he would make him pay for it. He did just that on the first pitch of the at-bat. Orzel unloaded on an absolute no-doubter to deep left field to take the lead in the bottom of the 7^th 6-4.

A leadoff walk in the top of the 8^th would come around to score on 3 wild pitches and would make things a little more interesting. Starting the top of the 9^th, the score was 6-5 and Pat O’Shea (St Mary’s) was on for the save. After getting the first 2 Turks out, he allowed a two out single and a walk to put the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first. Fortunately for the Gens, he got a ground ball to second base to pick up his first save of the year. The win helped Waynesboro snap a 3 game skid.

Key Performers for Harrisonburg:

• Caleb Walls: 2-4
• Austin Embler: 2-5
• Zach Little: 3-5

Key Performers for Waynesboro:

• Andrew Orzel (Wofford): 3-4, 2B, Go-Ahead 2-R Homer
• Dalton Wingo (UCF): 2-4, 2 2B, R
• Jackson Webb (UCF): 2-3, R
• Pat O’Shea (St Mary’s): SV (1), 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 1 K

The Gens will look to build on Tuesday night’s victory when the Charlottesville TomSox come to town Wednesday night at 7 pm.