Comeback Kids: Tom Sox Earn First Win in Rollercoaster Game

The Charlottesville Tom Sox returned home after falling to the Covington Lumberjacks on the road Sunday night, still awaiting the first win of the year. The weather has been perfect for baseball, but the Tom Sox’s offense has been anything but. That all changed tonight at Charlottesville High School, as the ‘Sox were able to clinch their first season victory, defeating the Staunton Braves 13-8.
Team Linescore
123456789R H E
SB Staunton 0210050008 8 2
Winner CHL Charlottesville 10001650X13 9 2
W:
Lance Tate (1-0)
L:
Keegan Oliver (0-1)

SHARE

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Charlottesville Tom Sox returned home after falling to the Covington Lumberjacks on the road Sunday night, still awaiting the first win of the year. The weather has been perfect for baseball, but the Tom Sox’s offense has been anything but. That all changed tonight at Charlottesville High School, as the ‘Sox were able to clinch their first season victory, defeating the Staunton Braves 13-8.

The Tom Sox offense finally broke out, matching the total number of runs from the first three games in the sixth inning alone. 

The game began with a fantastic line-drive snag from third baseman Tyler Shelnut (Florida); momentum for a clean 1-2-3 inning. From the plate, Kyle Edwards (Old Dominion) took the first pitch to the wall in left-center, and Gavin Abrams (Clemson) brought him home shortly after with his own shot in the same area. On both sides of the ball, the tone was set high.

The Braves responded quickly with a sacrifice fly to center from Grant Painter in the top of the second, sending home VBL batting average leader Joe Delossantos. The Braves took the lead shortly after from a line-drive down the third-base line from Jackson Price that set Bryant Goolsby up to score from second.  

After the Tom Sox left a runner stranded at third, the Braves stepped further in front during the top of the third. A fielder’s choice single put Jeffrey Snider on first, and after two wild pitches, he progressed to third. Delossantosbrought him home with a single to right, giving the Braves an early two-run lead.

The Tom Sox revived the crowd in the bottom of the fifth, as Hunter Sute (Alabama) cracked a double to the gap in left-center, sending Shelnut (who reached via a walk) home from second, cutting the deficit to one. 

The Braves took that personally, as they responded in the top of the sixth in powerful fashion. After Painter doubled down the third-base line, Chase Simmons sent a moonshot over the center-field fence that sent both of them home. Jackson Price gave the fans at CHS another cursed souvenir, as he walloped one to left field, making it back-to-back home runs. Simmons and Price became only the third pair of batters to hit back-to-back homers over the ‘Sox all-time. The carnage continued as an error allowed two more to cross the plate, giving the Braves a commanding 8-2 lead. 

The Tom Sox, however, refused to phone-it-in. After Kyle Joye (Wake Forest), John Newton (UNC Wilmington), and Shelnut walked to load the bases, Sute singled to right, scoring two and cutting the deficit to four. Edwards was able to send Newton and Shelnut back to the dugout with a single to shallow right, creeping the Tom Sox closer. As his walk-up song suggested, Julian Rojas (Radford) painted the souls of any Braves fans in attendance black with a single to left, sending two more runs in and erasing the lead. 

It seemed like the sixth inning put the Braves in need of a nap, because they became sloppy in the seventh. After Lance Tate (Hampden-Sydney) made quick work of the Braves in the top of the seventh, the Tom Sox took their first lead since the second inning due to an error at first that sent Newton home. Shelnut was able to score again off a single up the middle by Edwards due to another Braves error. A single by Satchell Norman (Florida Southwestern) then sent Menelik Israel (Duke) home after walking. Rojas put the Braves deeper in a hole with another 2-RBI single, making it 13-8. 

Tyler McLoughlin (Emory) used straight heat to close the Braves out in the ninth, giving the Tom Sox their much-needed first win of the 2022 season. 

The Tom Sox take the road to face the Braves once again on Wednesday night on the road at John Moxie Memorial Stadium. First pitch will be thrown at 7:30 p.m.

 

Additional Notes

  • The win was the first of Ramon Garza’s coaching career.

  • The Tom Sox more than doubled their run output from the first three games combined – in fact, they matched the number in the sixth inning alone.

  • Gavin Abrams reached base in all five plate appearances on the night (2-for-2, three walks). Abrams now has seven walks in his first four games and is one of two players in team history to have seven walks in their first four games with the team. The other? Now-Head Coach Ramon Garza.

  • Lance Tate was once again outstanding for the ‘Sox, tossing a pair of scoreless frames with one hit. He has not allowed a run in six innings to start the season.

  • After collecting only one hit with runners in scoring position over the first three games, the Tom Sox collected six of them tonight.

  • Kyle Edwards now has a hit in each of the Tom Sox’s four games, the only player to do so. Abrams and Satchell Norman join him as the only players to reach base in all four games this season.

Related Stories

Tom Sox Drop Thursday Matchup to Braves

On a night where 2-time Super Bowl Champion and philanthropist Chris Long threw out the first pitch, the Charlottesville Tom Sox (16-5) could not echo the buzz felt through the ballpark, falling 7-3 to the Staunton Braves (11-10) on Thursday at Charlottesville High School. Charlottesville fell victim to an impressive pitching performance by the visiting side, mustering up only seven hits and three runs, their fewest at home this season.

Tom Sox Toss One-Hitter in Revenge Game Win over the Braves

Less than a week ago in the season opener, the Charlottesville Tom Sox (3-1) fell to the Staunton Braves (3-2) in a nail-biting 9-8 ballgame. But on Star Wars Night at Willie T. Barnett Field on Thursday night, assistant coach Scott Stricklin led Charlottesville to a 10-0 run-rule victory in eight innings after the Charlottesville pitching staff tossed its first shutout of the young season.

Tom Sox Suffer Season-Opening Loss in Staunton

Charlottesville's journey to a championship title began on Friday night under the lights as the Tom Sox hit the road to face the Staunton Braves. The Braves came out on top, 9-8, after a three-run rally in the sixth.
Tom Sox logo

vs.

VALLEY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
BLUE OUT

TONIGHT - 7 PM
CHARLOTTESVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Add to Calendar

Google Calendar

Follow these instructions to add to your Google Calendar:

2. Click the following link to visit Google. Paste the copied link into the URL field then click Add Calendar to complete the process.

Outlook Calendar/Office 365

Currently, Microsoft does not support our format of live calendar. They do, however, support downloaded files. Follow these instructions to add to Outlook:

1.

Click this link to download the calendar file to your computer.

2. Visit Outlook’s calendar view, press Add Calendar, then Import ICS.
3. Select the ICS file you downloaded and the calendar you’d like to import to, then click import.
Please note that this format does not support live updates of game dates and times.

Other Calendar

Follow these instructions to add to your calendar app:

2. Find the function in your chosen calendar app to add a calendar by URL. It may be called “subscribe via link” or “add shared calendar”. Paste the link there, then press the respective button to add to your calendar.

If such a function does not exist, click the below link to download the calendar file and upload it to your calendar app. Please note that this calendar will not update if game dates or times change.
Tom Sox Calendar

Tom Sox Poker Tournament

March 23 – 7 PM – Elks Lodge