CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After five rain-shortened innings, the Charlottesville Tom Sox (16-4) defeated the Covington Lumberjacks (7-13) 5-1 at Casey Field on Wednesday night.
It was a quiet first inning for both sides as starter Palmer O’Beirne (State College of Florida) used a 4-6-3 double play and a strikeout to navigate the bottom of the opening frame and tee the offense back up at the plate.
In the top of the second, Jake Books (Coastal Carolina) reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a passed ball to put the ‘Sox on the board. Sam Mummau (Florida) singled and scored before Cale Stricklin (Auburn) was driven home by an Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) RBI sacrifice fly to put Charlottesville up 3-0.
The Green and Blue tacked on another in the top of the third after Colby Wallace (East Carolina) worked a walk to lead off the inning and came around to score on a Mummau RBI single.
In the bottom of the third, Covington scored on one hit and one walk, cutting the Tom Sox lead to 4-1.
Will Pearson (Georgia) relieved O’Beirne in the bottom of the fourth after the lefty tossed 3.2 one-run innings, giving up just three hits while striking out two Lumberjacks.
In what would turn out to be its final trip to the plate of the evening, Charlottesville added an insurance run in the top of the fifth. Robbie Lavey (George Washington) got things started with a one-out single and came around to score following a Johnnie Lopez (Seminole State) single and a Covington error.
Pearson retired the side in the bottom of the fifth as the Athens native finished his night with 1.1 clean innings of work and one strikeout.
After five frames, Head Coach Randy Tomlin met with the umpires who called the game due to inclement weather. The rain-shortened victory is Charlottesville’s fourth-consecutive win.
UP NEXT:
The Charlottesville Tom Sox host the Staunton Braves at home Thursday night. It is local music appreciation night with an appearance from two-time Super Bowl Champion Chris Long. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
