WAYNESBORO, Va. — A humid and hot evening at Kate Collins Field painted the picture for a sixth matchup between the top and bottom of the South Division — the Charlottesville Tom Sox (19-7) and the Waynesboro Generals (9-16). The Tom Sox used a dominant offensive showing – including a game-high five RBI from outfielder Jake Books (Coastal Carolina) to take home a 16-4, rain-shortened win.
The Tom Sox started the season series hot by winning the first two games with an aggregate score of 32-2. The third game of the series was also a huge offensive show for the Sox who won 10-2, but the Generals had all the momentum in game four and earned a 10-6 victory. In the most recent meeting between the two squads on June 28th, the Generals were two outs away from back-to-back wins over Charlottesville until Robbie Lavey (George Washington) answered the bell with a walk-off two-run home to call game and send the Charlottesville crowd home happy.
Coming off of a tough loss in Covington on Friday night after fighting tooth and nail to the 10th inning, Charlottesville was looking to get back on track in Waynesboro.
The Tom Sox immediately set the tone in the top half of the first. After an Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) single and a Ryan Wynn (Wofford) walk, Jake Books (Coastal Carolina) continued his hot streak in the three hole, ripping a double to plate Gibson and Wynn for an early 2-0 lead.
“I just took one at bat at a time trying to find my pitch. I’m glad I was able to produce and help the team win,” said Books.
Colby Wallace (East Carolina) continued the opening inning party with an RBI triple to right center, scoring Books for a 3-0 lead. The next batter, Blake Brookins (Florida), kept the scoring streak alive with a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Wallace to tag up easily from third as the Sox grew their advantage to 4-0.
On the bump for Charlottesville was Trevor Booton (Auburn) who was making his fifth start of the season and his fourth appearance against Waynesboro. After allowing a lead-off double and a walk to put runners on the corners, Booton got out of the early jam by striking out Waynesboro’s three, four, and five hitters.
The second inning was all Charlottesville and a carbon copy of the first inning. After a Gibson single and a Wynn walk, Books again smacked a two-run opposite field single to left field, scoring both Gibson and Wynn for the 6-0 lead.
“The conditions we played in tonight were tough, but we are ready for anything thrown our way with the goal to win,” Books said.
Charlottesville loaded the bases with two outs before Dean Mihos (Coastal Carolina) drew a walk, scoring Brookins to make it 7-0. But the Sox didn’t stop there as Cale Stricklin (Auburn) joined the fun, roping an RBI single and moving everyone up one base as the lead went up to eight. Nick Parham (East Carolina) then crushed a bases-clearing triple to score Lavey, Mihos, and Strickland and cap off a seven-run inning. The Tom Sox ended the second up 11-0.
The Generals got to Booton a bit in the bottom of the second. After getting runners on the corners with one out, Cesar Morillo hit a triple to score Samuel Hunter and Gialdri Gomez. Morillo would come in to score on a wild pitch, ending the second with a score of 11-3 ‘Sox.
The third inning was the cleanest for the Generals’ pitching staff. After allowing Books to reach base by fielder’s choice and Wallace to double, they were able to get Brookins to strike out and Lavey to ground out to retire the side.
The Generals would score their final run of the night in the bottom half of the inning as Booton allowed a one-out double to Jacob Payne followed by an RBI single to Christian Castaneda to make the score 11-4.
Booton was relieved after going 2.1 innings and allowing four runs. In relief was Dean Kampschror (Virginia) who was sharp to induce two groundouts to end the inning.
In the top half of the fourth frame, after loading the bases again, Gibson lined his third single of the night for an RBI, scoring Mihos and increasing the ‘Sox lead to 12-4. The next batter, Wynn, drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Jack McMullan (Liberty) and growing the lead to nine runs. Books, back up to the plate with the bases loaded, knew he could deliver a dagger as he drove a ground rule double to right center that brought in Parham and Gibson to make the score a whopping 15-4.
“We lost a tough one the other night in Covington,” Books said. “[But] we try not to dwell on those too much and get ready to come out the next day ready to win.”
To end the scoring merry-go-round, Wallace drove another deep sacrifice fly that allowed Wynn to tag up easily and make it 16-4 Charlottesville.
Kampschror was surgical in the bottom of the fourth, getting their hitters to go 1-2-3 with two fly outs and a ground out.
With the weather conditions getting worse, Charlottesville knew an early win was in the balance as they turned to Garrett Mason (Virginia Tech) who was making his third appearance of the season and his third against the Generals. Mason immediately came in looking sharp, getting a groundout, a pop out, and a swinging strikeout to finish the inning and the game.
Due to the weather conditions and the game going five innings to become official, the match was called by the home plate umpire who deemed the field not playable – giving Charlottesville their fifth win of the year against the Generals.
UP NEXT:
The Charlottesville Tom Sox are back at home for the first time in a week for a Saturday matchup with the Culpeper Cavaliers on Holidays on the Hill Night. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Charlottesville scored 16 runs against the Generals for the third time in six games this season.
- The ‘Sox have outscored the Generals by 51 runs this season, the second-largest margin of victory in a season series in program history. (The ‘Sox outscored the Covington Lumberjacks by 53 runs in 2017, the most all-time)
- The Tom Sox hit multiple triples in a game for the fifth time in team history, and first since June 2021 against Harrisonburg.
- Jake Books’ five RBI tied for the second-most in a single game all-time, becoming the 11th ‘Sox player to do so. He joins Tommy Roldan (June 18) as ‘Sox players with a five-RBI game this season.
