CULPEPER, Va. – The Charlottesville Tom Sox (2-2) squared off against the Culpeper Cavaliers (1-3) on Sunday night, ultimately coming away with an 11-1 victory as the game ended early due to the run rule.
Charlottesville had a first-inning rally after Justin Thomas (Georgia) and Henry Ford (Virginia) singled, but they were left stranded on second and third.
After a 1-2-3 inning from starting pitcher Braden Halladay (High Point), the Tom Sox came alive in the second. Connor Hincks (Notre Dame) and Jake Bennett (San Jacinto) walked to open the inning, putting two runners on for Josh Tate (Georgia), who ripped a line drive down the third base line for a two-run double. Tate later came around to score when Kyle Edwards (Old Dominion) laced a double into right center.
The hits didn’t stop there for the ‘Sox as Ford joined in on the hit parade, crushing a ball deep into left field for the third RBI double of the inning. The Tom Sox had a 4-0 lead just an inning and a half in. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to three in the bottom of the second when Jaden Sheffield notched an RBI single.
In the third inning, Charlottesville came close to extending its lead when it loaded the bases, but couldn’t push any runs across.
The Tom Sox continued to pour it on in the fourth inning when Ford hit his second RBI double of the contest, which drove home Edwards, who doubled the at-bat prior. The bats continued to stay hot during the fourth when Hincks recorded a sac fly to deep center field, extending the advantage to 6-1.
The runs kept coming for Charlottesville, with Bennett crushing his first home run of the campaign as the lead ballooned to 8-1.
Halladay tossed three innings, only surrendering one run as head coach Lyndon Coleman went to his bullpen in the fourth, bringing in Landen Burch (Old Dominion). Burch worked a scoreless fourth, and the bats stayed hot in the fifth. Hollis Porter (Mississippi State) lined a single into center field, which bounced over the head of the center fielder, and it rolled to the wall. The hit drove in two, and he was able to reach third base after the error. He scored shortly after on a wild pitch, advancing the lead to 11-1.
After a scoreless top of the sixth, Coleman decided to go to his bullpen again and called upon Mark Perkins (Rice). Perkins worked two scoreless innings to close out a blowout performance for Charlottesville.
The Tom Sox are off on Monday before returning home on Tuesday to face off against Staunton at 7 P.M.
From Head Coach Lyndon Coleman
“We bounced back well today. We had a 4-run second, Ford was really good today and he’s been really solid in the three games he’s played. Edwards played really good at shortstop, lockdown defender. But the biggest thing was Stossel wasn’t ready to throw today, unfortunately something happened with him and we had to scratch him, and Halladay showed up and gave us three strong innings, gave up one run, and he just set the tone by throwing a ton of strikes and being able to throw that split-finger in any count which was really big.”
Additional Notes
-
Kyle Edwards became the first ‘Sox player with a 4-hit game since Carter Cunningham on July 20, 2022.
-
Two ‘Sox players hit multiple doubles in the same game for the third time in team history, and first since 2019.
-
The Tom Sox won their first run-rule game of the season and first since July 2022.
-
Henry Ford recorded multiple extra-base hits for the second time in three games he’s played.
