CULPEPER, Va. — With clear eyes and full hearts, the Charlottesville Tom Sox (4-1) defeated the Culpeper Cavaliers (1-3) 10-2 under the Friday night lights of Culpeper County High School. Isaac Fix (Davidson) tossed four scoreless frames in the start and Cade Belyeu (Auburn), Robbie Lavey (George Washington), and Gavin Miller (Houston) all went yard in the team’s first road win.
In the top of the first, Johnnie Lopez (Seminole State College) singled and scored all the way from first on a Tommy Roldan (Virginia) RBI double. Belyeu’s fourth homer in just five games with C’Ville plated him and Roldan.
Fix retired the side 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame, and at the end of the first the Tom Sox led 3-0.
The visitors tacked on two more in the top of the third with a single from Roldan and a two-run bomb from Lavey. Fix fanned two in a scoreless bottom of the inning to preserve the Tom Sox 5-0 lead after three innings.
Fix would finish his night in the fourth, bouncing back from a tough opening start with no runs in four innings of work, striking out three.
In the fifth, after working a walk, Roldan came around to score on an RBI fielder’s choice from Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech). Ethan Sutton (Georgia) posted a scoreless inning of work with a strikeout in the bottom of the inning in relief of Fix and after five frames the Tom Sox advantage held at 6-0.
It was an explosive top of the sixth, starting with Sam Mummau (Florida) and Cale Stricklin (Auburn) working walks and coming around to score. Landon Bruce (San Jacinto) laid a perfect bunt down and eventually came around to score as well. At the end of six it was a commanding 9-0 lead for C’Ville.
The Cavaliers scored one in the bottom of the seventh, but the Tom Sox got that run back in the top of the ninth off the bat of Gavin Miller (Houston). In just his second at-bat with the team, Miller crushed the solo shot over the left field wall, extending the Tom Sox lead to 10-1.
The Cavaliers would tack on another run in the bottom of the ninth, but Will Pearson (Georgia) would work out of a jam to hold the home team at bay and preserve the 10-2 win.
UP NEXT:
The Tom Sox improve to 4-1 and will head to Waynesboro Saturday to take on the Generals for the second time this season. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Kate Collins Field.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Charlottesville has allowed a total of five hits and has outscored their opponents 36-3 over their last three games.
- Belyeu is the fastest player to four home runs in Tom Sox history.
- Tom Sox players now hold four of the top seven batting averages in the VBL. The Tom Sox as a team lead the league in both batting average and ERA.
- The Tom Sox have scored first in all five of their games this season.
- Charlottesville did not allow a Culpeper hit with runners in scoring position on the night.
