Waynesboro clinches playoff spot with 5-0 win at Rockbridge

Waynesboro scored three runs in the first and never looked back, clinching a 2013 Valley League playoff spot with a 5-0 win at Rockbridge Wednesday night.

Corey Armentrout (sophomore, Bridgewater) picked up his fourth win of the season, throwing five scoreless innings, giving up three hits, striking out three and walking one.

Armentrout lowered his ERA to 2.20.

Ben Boykin (junior, College of Charleston) had two hits. Anthony Iacomini (junior, Cortland State) was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Patrick Mazeika (freshman, Stetson) was also 1-for-3 to finish the season with a .382 batting average.

Waynesboro finishes the regular season at 22-22 to earn the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division.

The Generals will open the best-of-three first round of the 2013 VBL playoffs at Harrisonburg on Sunday. Game 2 will be in Waynesboro on Monday night, with a Game 3, if necessary, back in Harrisonburg on Tuesday.

Waynesboro rallies late, beats Rockbridge, 5-4

An eighth-inning JoJo Woods RBI single scored Ben Boykin with the eventual winning run to lift Waynesboro to a 5-4 win over Rockbridge Thursday night.

The win, coupled with a 6-5 Covington loss to New Market, puts the Generals two-and-a-half games up on the Lumberjacks for the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division with six games to go in the 2013 Valley League season.

Rockbridge had rallied from an early 4-2 deficit with two runs in the seventh on a two-out, two-run single by Noah Blackhurst.

The Waynesboro eighth was decisive when Boykin (junior, College of Charleston) reached on an infield single with one out, and then advanced to third on a bunt single by Corbin Lucas (sophomore, Shenandoah) and a throwing error by Rockbridge pitcher John Fissel.

Woods (junior, Central Florida) singled to right to score Boykin with the go-ahead run.

Sean Bucholz (junior, Southern Miss) pitched a perfect ninth to notch his first save of the season.

Michael Scimanico (freshman, Shenandoah) got the win in relief, giving up one hit in one and two-thirds scoreless innings.

Six Generals batters had two hits as part of a 15-hit onslaught by the Waynesboro offense.

Waynesboro travels to Staunton on Friday.

Waynesboro romps at Rockbridge, 11-2

Jeff Conley pitched six shutout innings, Patrick Mazeika reached base five times, and Sikes Orvis hit his first homer of the season, lifting Waynesboro to an 11-2 win at Rockbridge Monday night.

Conley (junior, Alderson-Broaddus) picked up his first win of the season with his effort – striking out six, walking two and allowing three hits in six innings on the mound.

Mazeika (freshman, Stetson) was 2-for-3 with three RBI. He was hit by two pitches – Mazeika has now been hit by 11 pitches in 14 games – and also walked once to improve his batting average to .400 and his on-base percentage to .578.

A two-run Mazeika double in the ninth was followed by the homer by Orvis (junior, Ole Miss) over the 18-foot-high wall in right field.

Anthony Iacomini (junior, Cortland State) and Tyler Bocock (sophomore, Stetson) each had two hits and two RBI for Waynesboro, which extended its lead over Covington for the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division to three games.

The Generals return home Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with a game against South Division leader New Market.

Rockbridge smacks down Waynesboro, 10-0

Rockbridge got a pair of two-run homers from Scott Fabre and seven scoreless innings from Jacob Christensen to fuel a 10-0 win over Waynesboro Sunday night.

Fabre had come into the game with one home run in the 2013 Valley League season, but both of his two-run shots, in the third and fifth, were no-doubters, clearing the scoreboard in left-center.

After the second shot, starting pitcher Chad Farmer (junior, Appalachian State) drilled Rockbridge designated hitter Ray Guerrini on the left shoulder, triggering a benches-clearing brawl that resulted in the ejections of Farmer and Waynesboro bench coach Jeff Beard.

Following the fracas, the Rapids seized control, scoring a run in the sixth on a wild pitch by reliever Thomas Young (freshman, Western Carolina), adding three in the eighth on a throwing error and a pair of RBI singles by Ryan Perkins and Joey Wilson, and two more in the ninth on a two-run triple by Will Leathers.

Christensen, somehow, kept the Generals off the scoreboard despite having trouble with the strike zone, walking six batters and throwing more balls (54) than strikes (51) in seven innings. In spite of his troubles with control, Christensen limited Waynesboro to two hits, a pair of singles by Patrick Mazeika (freshman, Stetson).

The shutout was the third in a row suffered by the Generals, who have now gone scoreless for 30 innings and have also lost a season-high four in a row.

Waynesboro is on the road at Staunton on Monday.

Waynesboro Generals win at Rockbridge, 7-2

Chad Farmer and three relievers held Rockbridge in check, and the Waynesboro Generals rode a hot offensive night to a 7-2 victory in Lexington on Tuesday.

Farmer (junior, Appalachian State) picked up his first win of the 2013 season, giving up two runs on four hits in five and two-thirds innings. The relief corps of Sean Bucholz (sophomore, Southern Miss), David Spinosa (sophomore, Columbia) and Josh Thorne (freshman, Stetson) followed up with three and a third innings of scoreless, two-hit baseball.

Tyler Bocock (sophomore, Stetson) and Julius Gaines (sophomore, Florida International) each had three hits for Waynesboro, and JoJo Woods (junior, Central Florida) and Thomas Stallings (sophomore, VMI) each had two RBIs for Waynesboro.

The Generals (3-4) are on the road at Aldie (4-1) on Wednesday. Waynesboro’s next scheduled home game is Thursday against Staunton. The game is the WSVA Waynesboro Generals Game of the Week. The broadcast on WSVA-550AM begins at 6:30 p.m. with a pregame show hosted by play-by-play man Chris Graham. First pitch is at 7 p.m.

Generals TV: Big win over Rockbridge

Interviews with Corbin Lucas (soph., Shenandoah), who hit his first career VBL homer, and Taylor Sandefur (r-junior, Western Carolina), who made his first start on the mound in the VBL since 2010, in the Waynesboro Generals’ 5-4 win over the Rockbridge Rapids on June 5. More online at https://www.waynesborogenerals.net.

Waynesboro Generals rally, knock off Rockbridge, 5-4

A three-run rally in the seventh pushed the Waynesboro Generals ahead to say, and the Generals held off the Rockbridge Rapids 5-4 on Wednesday.

Taylor Sandefur (junior, Western Carolina) looked good in his first start of the season for Waynesboro, going five innings and giving up two runs on five hits while striking three and not issuing a walk. Sandefur, a 2010 Valley League All-Star in Waynesboro, left with the game tied 2-2 after surrendering a pair of two-out runs in the top of the fifth on back-to-back run-scoring hits by Kyle Edwards and Hunter Higgerson.

Another two-out hit in the seventh by Higgerson scored Edwards from second and gave Rockbridge a 3-2 lead.

Waynesboro answered in the bottom half of the inning. Thomas Stallings (sophomore, VMI) led off with a base on balls, and Tyler Bocock (sophomore, Stetson) was hit by a pitch by Rockbridge starter Austin Stephens (0-1). Julius Gaines (sophomore, Florida International) sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out. Brian Beard (freshman, Old Dominion) greeted reliever John Fissel by hitting his first pitch to deep right for a sacrifice fly that scored Stallings from third and knotted the game at 3-3.

Ben Boykin (junior, College of Charleston) was hit by a pitch and stole second, after which Rockbridge decided to walk Roche Woodard (sophomore, Florida International) to load the bases. Dale Urquhart Jr. (sophomore, Western Carolina) hit an apparent inning-ending grounder on a 3-2 pitch from the third Rockbridge pitcher of the inning, Ray Guerrini, hat Higgerson misplayed and then threw the ball away trying to get Urquhart at first, allowing Boykin and Bocock to score to make it 5-3.

Rockbridge tightened the game in the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Patrick Marshall, but Josh Thorne (freshman, Stetson) was able to close the door from there with an inning and a third of scoreless relief.

Corbin Lucas (sophomore, Shenandoah) hit his first homer of the season leading off the bottom of the second.

Waynesboro travels to Staunton on Thursday and returns home on Friday to face Covington. WKDW radio personality Kris Neal will serve as the play-by-play broadcaster for Friday’s game, with the pregame show on WaynesboroGenerals.net set to start at 6:50 p.m., and the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.