Tom Sox Could Not Get the Bats Going at Waynesboro; Fall 6-3 to Generals
By: Zach Hamilton
On what turned out to be a beautiful night in Waynesboro (9-9), the Charlottesville Tom Sox (11-4) were unable to get the key hit and fell to the Generals 6-3. The Tom Sox stranded over ten runners on the base paths including leaving the bases load twice on the night. Anthony Lazar led the offense by going 2-5 with an RBI-Double. Meanwhile, Max Bazin collected a single and scored a run to extend his hit streak to six games.
Both starting pitchers got off to hot starts with Waynesboro’s Matt Ellmyer putting the Tom Sox down in order on three groundouts. Charlottesville’s Nick Roth also had a three-up, three-down inning while picking up one strikeout. In the top of the second inning, Patrick McColl singled to lead-off the inning. Dom D’Alessandro joined him on base after reaching safely on a grounder hit to shortstop that ultimately got no one out. With runners on the corners and only one out, Charlottesville was unable to push home the run.
The Generals found themselves in a similar situation in the bottom of the second. Tyler Trovinger stepped to the plate with runners on first and second with one out. He lined a hit into left field that brought home the first run of the ballgame. Bruno Teramoto and Gabe Montenegro followed Trovinger with two more singles to left that each plated another run to give Waynesboro a 3-0 advantage. Catcher Jake Allen got the third inning started with a bang as he drove a lead-off double down the right field line. The Tom Sox were able to score their first run of the contest on a sac-fly by Alex Mardiney that scored Allen.
Roth settled in for Charlottesville and only allowed on runner to reach in the third and fourth innings. He then picked that runner off to end the fourth inning and in the top of the fifth, Max Bazin extended his team-high, hitting streak to six games on a single to left field. Allen then put down a beautiful sac-bunt to move Bazin to second base. Second baseman, Anthony Lazar drove a ball off the top of the wall in left-centerfield that brought Bazin in to score the first run of the inning. Aron Solis then relieved Ellmyer but gave up an infield single that pushed Lazar across to tie the game at 3-3.
Waynesboro immediately found a response in the bottom of the fifth against new arm Bryce Bowen. Two infield singles and a walk loaded the bases with no out for the Generals and Andrew Orzel was able to lift a ball to centerfield that scored the go-ahead run. Alex Brait then sky another sac-fly, this time to right field, that plated the second run of the inning. Tyler Bielamowicz drove in the final run of the contest on a double to left field to make it a 6-3 game.
Reliever Hunter Gregory came on for Charlottesville and pitched three scoreless innings and struck out three. Meanwhile, after Ellmyer’s exit in the fifth, the Tom Sox went hitless for the remainder of the night. Aron Solis picked up his first win of the summer for Waynesboro while Bryce Bowen was dealt his first loss. Hunter Shuff closed out the game for the Generals and got his first save of the season.
After falling to 11-5 on the season, the Tom Sox find themselves sitting in second place in the South Division. The Generals climbed back to .500 at 9-9 on the summer and are in fourth place in the South Division. Charlottesville will remain on the road as they travel to the Staunton Braves on Thursday night at 7:30pm. Waynesboro will pack up and take a trip south to Covington for a 7pm matchup on Thursday.
