CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – On a night celebrating the story of a galaxy far far away, the Charlottesville Tom Sox could not find their movie-like ending.
Surrendering eight runs in the eighth inning, the ‘Sox could not overcome that deficit and fell to the Front Royal Cardinals, 10-4, on Star Wars Night.
The Tom Sox started the game off solid, with starting pitcher JT Gibson (Kennesaw State) working around two hits to pitch a scoreless inning. The offense found a spark early with Adonys Velez (Florida International) lining a single and working his way to third via a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Jackson Sirois (Virginia) brought home Velez later that at-bat with an RBI groundout.
Gibson worked another spotless inning, before being relieved in the third after recording two outs. Jett Bristow (Virginia) entered and allowed two walks and a run to score before ending the inning with a strikeout.
The offense immediately retaliated after surrendering the lead. Patrick Niehus (Gardner-Webb) worked a walk and Andrew Mannelly (Wofford) found his way on via a hit-by-pitch. Gian De Castro (Arizona State) roped a sacrifice fly into center to score Niehus and retake the lead, 2-1.
In that same inning, Braden Weaver (Liberty) worked a walk and, alongside Mannelly, reached home on a single from Kaegan Costa (Paul D. Camp) to make the score 4-1.
Alex Bingler (James Madison) made his second appearance of the season out of the bullpen, pitching a scoreless bottom half of the fourth inning. He was tagged for an unearned run in the fifth to make the score 4-2. Bingler pitched a spotless sixth and racked up five strikeouts before his day was over.
The ‘Sox offense struggled to find the scoreboard after their early success, but they held the 4-2 lead heading into the top of the eighth inning.
The Tom Sox used three pitchers in the inning, with Riley Roarty (VCU), Addison Stockham (Eastern Kentucky) and Elijah Coston (VCU) all taking the mound. The three combined to walk eight batters and gave up eight runs to make the score 10-4.
The sudden shift knocked the energy out of the ballpark and the hitters. Even though the ‘Sox placed runners on the corners in the ninth, they couldn’t find a way to plate them, and dropped their third game of the season, all at home.
UP NEXT:
The Tom Sox will hit the road for their next game as they get set to take on the Covington Lumberjacks from Casey Field. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Kaegan Costa (Paul D. Camp) reached base four times in the loss, which is the most times a Tom Sox player has reached safely this season
- Eight of the nine Tom Sox starters reached base at least twice, with three players having multiple hits
- The ‘Sox have left at least 10 runners on base in each of the last three games
- The eight walks that Front Royal earned in the eighth inning are the most surrendered in a single inning by the Tom Sox in franchise history
- Charlottesville’s pitchers walked 14 Front Royal hitters, which is tied for the second most in a single game in team history
