Gens Drop Extra Inning Contest to Charlottesville
A late miscue gave Charlottesville an extra out to work with in the top of the 10th and the Tom Sox didn’t waste the opportunity.
In what turned out to be an absolute pitcher’s duel, the Generals were only able to muster up six hits in their 10 offensive frames. The pitching staff for the Gens had another great outing, striking out a combined 13 hitters and walking zero on the night.
First for starter, Deven Judy (Gannon U). Judy gave the Gens a strong five innings, scattering five hits and four strikeouts. The one run the Tom Sox got off of Judy was in the fourth. The Tom Sox got three of their five hits off of Deven in that inning. Back-to-back singles with one out in the inning put runners at first and second. After a strikeout, Dan Harwood delivered a sharply hit single up the middle to bring in the runner from second.
The score would stay at 1-0 until the bottom of the eighth inning, mostly thanks to Joe Acosta (East Tennessee State). Acosta went three strong innings where he only allowed one hit and struck out five. His fastball was up to 94 miles per hour on the gun with a wicked slider to go along with his heater. He kept the game intact for his entire three innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, Santiago Garcia (Alabama State) was down 1-2 in the count when he drilled one deep into the Waynesboro night for a game tying homer. The score was 1-1 with nobody out in the eighth. However, a lot of credit has to be given to the five Charlottesville arms that kept the Generals off balance all night.
In the 10th inning, the Tom Sox would get a man on to start the inning with a leadoff single. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, the Generals looked in good shape to get out of the inning when a grounder was hit to third base. However, a botched play put runners at the corners and gave the Tom Sox another chance to drive in the go-ahead run. They wouldn’t waste their opportunity as Thomas Francisco came up with his third hit of the game to put the Tom Sox in front for good.
Key Performers for Charlottesville:
Devin Hemenway: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
David Yourke: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Cole McNamee: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Alaska Abney: SV (1), 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Thomas Francisco: 3-5, 2B, RBI
Dan Harwood: 2-4, RBI
Ramon Garza: 2-4, 2B
Key Performers for Waynesboro:
Deven Judy (Gannon U): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Joe Acosta (East Tennessee State): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Santiago Garcia (Alabama State): 1-4, HR (1)
The Generals (9-6) will be back in action Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Ballpark when they take on the Harrisonburg Turks. The Turks are winners of their last four. First pitch set for 7:30 pm.
Generals Suffer Sweep to New Market
In order to make up a game that had been rained out, the Generals welcomed New Market to Integrity Home Mortgage Park at Kate Collins Field for a double-header consisting of two seven inning games. Unfortunately, the Generals were on the losing side of both ball games.
Game 1:
Game one started at 4 pm and saw Bailey Wimberley (Memphis) take the hill for the Generals. His counterpart was Wilhelm Allen for the Rebels. The scoring started early for New Market as the Rebels did all of their hitting with two outs in the inning. Josh Cox hit a single and promptly stole second base on the next pitch. On the stolen base attempt, he moved to third base on an errant throw down from the catcher. He then scored on a single from Samuel Frontino. Frontino would also steal second base. This was the second of five steals that the Rebels pulled in throughout the first game. Brandon Rembert would drive in Frontino with a base hit to left field to finish the scoring for the first frame. The score was 2-0.
The Rebels would also score in the second inning. There was a ton of traffic on the base paths so it was a small victory for the Generals to only allow one run on a wild pitch with two outs in the inning. Benito Varela would be the runner to come in and score. The score after two complete innings was 3-0 in favor of the Rebels.
The bottom of the third was the first time the Generals offense got going. They were able to pick up one run, but with the inning they had formulating, the one run felt like a bit of a let down. Bryson Worrell (East Carolina) connected on his first home run of the season with just one away in the inning. Wes Clarke (South Carolina) would follow up the homer with a double into the left center field gap. A couple pitches later, he would move to third base on a wild pitch with still just one out. The Generals weren’t able to bring in the run after a strikeout and a ground out.
The top of the fourth was another good inning for the New Market Rebels. They would tack on two more runs to extend the lead to 5-1. After being hit by a pitch, Ramon Machado would steal another base before being moved to third on a ground out. A single by Kyle Decker would drive in Machado for the first run of the inning. Decker would steal second base to put yet another runner into scoring position for the Rebs. When he tried to steal third, Josh Cox hit a slow chopper to the shortstop. Decker never broke stride and continued on towards home plate. As the play was developing, Christian Proffitt (Florida Gulf Coast), the Generals shortstop, would throw across the diamond to try and retire Cox. His throw was late and Decker made it all the way home safely without a throw.
The Generals would also respond with two runs in the bottom half of the same inning. Joe Kinker (Florida Gulf Coast) would work his way on with a walk to lead off the inning. When Connor Norby (East Carolina) would lay down a bunt, the catcher who came out to field the ball air mailed the throw deep into the right field corner. Kinker would come all the way around to score and Norby would get to third. Christian Proffitt would single to bring in Norby, but the rest of the inning proved unfruitful.
The game rested at a score of 5-3 until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Generals would make a big push to try and win the game in walk off fashion. The newly inserted New Market pitcher would struggle with command. He hit Seth Cannady (Florida International), walked Bryson Worrell and Wes Clarke, and was then lifted from the game. The Rebels would turn to Jeremiah McCollum to try to put out the fire. After an RBI fielder’s choice by Elijah Quiceno (Gannon U), McCollum would pick up two punch outs to end the game. He picked up his second save of the season.
Game 2:
Game two of the double header got under way at about 7:25 pm and saw the matchup of Zach Kirby (East Tennessee State) for the Gens and Gregory Strickland for the Rebels.
The Rebels got off to a very similar start in game two by scoring a run in the opening frame. Kyle Decker hit in the leadoff spot for the Rebels and hit a double into the left centerfield gap. Josh Cox followed with a single to right that advanced Decker to third. Giovanny Lorenzo hit a roundball to shortstop to drive in the first run.
The Rebs would score again in the top of the second to extend the lead to 2-0. Brandon Rembert was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning. He would steal second and move to third on an errant throw by the catcher. He was brought in on the very next pitch on an error by the first baseman of the Gens. The Rebs would have all they needed to win the game.
The Generals would score in the bottom of the second, but that would finish up the scoring for the rest of the game. Jack Murphy (St. Mary’s) would start things off with a double into the left center field gap and would move to third on the next pitch on a fly ball to right. Christian Proffitt (Florida Gulf Coast) drove in Murphy on a high fly ball to centerfield for a sacrifice fly.
From the third inning on, the pitching staffs for both teams were dynamic. The teams combined for only 4 hits in the entire game and the score finished at 2-1.
Key Performers for New Market:
Kyle Decker: 2-6, 2B, 2 R, RBI
Josh Cox: 3-7, R, RBI
Jeremiah McCollum: SV (2), IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Christian Horner: W (1-1), 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Austin Elliott: SV (1), 2 IP, 1 H, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
Key Performers for Waynesboro:
Christian Proffitt (Florida Gulf Coast): 2-4, 2 RBI
Joe Acosta (East Tennessee State): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Wes Clarke (South Carolina): 2-4, 2B
Bryson Worrell (East Carolina): 1-5, HR
Jack Murphy (St. Mary’s): 1-3, 2B
Matt Mercer (East Tennessee State): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K
The Generals drop to 6-5 while the Rebels move to 6-7 on the summer. The Generals will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Purcellville to take on the Cannons at Fireman’s Field.
