Tom Sox Host Cardinals on Military Appreciation Night

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Charlottesville Tom Sox (19-10) will face the Front Royal Cardinals (16-19) for Military Appreciation Night at CHO Airport Field. It will be broadcast live on the Tom Sox Facebook page and Tom Sox TV. First pitch is set for 7 P.M.

Coverage: Viewers can head to the Tom Sox Facebook Page or Tom Sox TV to watch tonight’s game. A link to the live stats is available on Pointstreak. The Tom Sox Twitter account (@CvilleTomSox) will provide live updates.

Ticket Information: Admission to Tom Sox games is $5 for one person and $10 for a full carload. Parking is included.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Front Royal: RHP Jack Butler – Georgia State (2 GS, 2-1, 15.1 IP, 2.34 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K)

Charlottesville: RHP Mike Eggert – Wofford (7 APP, 1-0, 12.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 BB, 10 K)

LEADING OFF:

• The Tom Sox and Cardinals will face off for the fourth and final time this season.

• The Tom Sox will play their first game in three days after Thursday and Friday’s games were postponed.

• The Tom Sox sit one game back from Strasburg for the VBL lead with a 19-10 record and .655 win percentage. The Express have played three more games than the ‘Sox.

• After going on an eight-game win streak, the ‘Sox have lost three of their last five games. They have failed to score more than one run in two of the three losses.

• Charlottesville wrapped up a stretch of eleven home games in 16 days Wednesday.

• Kyle Edwards set a Tom Sox record with his 66th all-time start in game two on Sunday, breaking a record that had stood since 2018. Teammate Garrett Spikes sits only eight games behind him.

• Lyndon Coleman will not coach tonight due to a prevously scheduled family event. Brian Wirth and Trevon Smith will co-coach.

SOX ARE HOT:

• The Tom Sox have won ten of their last 13 games.

• Charlottesville’s eight-game win streak was snapped in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader. The eight-straight wins were the most since the 2017 season, when the ‘Sox won 12 straight.

• The Tom Sox were averaging 3.3 runs per game at home prior to their eight-game win streak. Since June 29, when the win streak began, they are averaging 5.2 runs per game at CHO Airport Field.

• Charlottesville has a win streak of at least five games for the fourth straight season.

LEAVING THE YARD:

• After homering only four times over their first 16 games, the Tom Sox have hit eight home runs in their last 13 games.

• Four have come off the bat of home run derby champion Derek Williams. All four of Williams’ homers, including both on Saturday at Strasburg, have either tied the game or given the ‘Sox the lead.

• Alex Bouche, Kalvin Alexander, and Kyle Edwards each have hit one homer as part of the streak. Edwards and Alexander each had one long ball early in the season, while Bouche’s was his first.

• Nathan Fink hit his first homer of the season Wednesday against Culpeper, a grand slam. It marked Charlotteville’s first grand slam since July 24 of last season against Waynesboro.

• Prior to the current streak, all four of Charlottesville’s home runs had been 2-run shots.

NO DAYS OFF:

• The ‘Sox began a stretch last Wednesday of 23 games in 19 days, with no days off for the remainder of the summer.

• Eight of the 23 games are doubleheaders.

• The stretch has been extended to 23 games in 20 days with one off day, courtesy of last Friday’s rainout against Woodstock. The doubleheader has been moved to July 20, with the road game at Woodstock now on July 24.

• The ‘Sox have gained another pair of off days with rainouts on Thursday & Friday. Thursday’s game at Staunton will be played on Monday, while reschedule dates for Friday are TBD.

AGAINST FRONT ROYAL:

• The Tom Sox have 16-5 lead in the all-time series, their largest lead over any opponent all-time (11 games).

• The ‘Sox have won eight of the last nine games against Front Royal. Their six-game win streak was snapped in the first meeting this season.

• Charlottesville has never lost the season series against Front Royal in their eight seasons as a team. They split the series in 2015 when they only met twice and have won every series since then.

• The Tom Sox have won the last two games against the Cardinals, by three and two runs respectively.

• Charlottesville’s largest win in team history came against Front Royal in a 17-0 home win in the second game of a doubleheader in 2018.

RECORD-SETTING DAYS:

• Kyle Edwards set a Tom Sox record in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader with his 66th career start for the team.

• Garrett Spikes sits only nine starts behind him entering tonight’s game.

MOST CAREER STARTS – TOM SOX HISTORY

• Jordan Little set a team record with 11 strikeouts in four innings on Tuesday. Three pitchers had previously hit ten strikeouts, but he is the first to reach the teens.

MOST STRIKEOUTS IN A GAME – TOM SOX HISTORY

SPEEDY ‘SOX:

• The Tom Sox have stolen 101 bases in their first 29 games, the most over that span in franchise history.

• The 2023 team has sole possession of second place in team history in single-season stolen bases. They now only trail the 2021 team, who stole 110 in 2021:

  	SB	GAMES
  1. 2021	110	42
  2. 2023	101	29
  3. 2017	66	49
  2022	66	48
  5. 2018	47	48

• The 2023 ‘Sox now own the top three stolen base days in team history, stealing nine in game two against Covington, ten on June 9 at Harrisonburg, and eight on June 18 (tied with one other).

MOST STOLEN BASES – SINGLE GAME

• Josh Tate tied the individual single-game record with four steals at Harrisonburg, tying a record that had not been touched in exactly eight years.

• This season, the ‘Sox have six games with 6+ stolen bases after having only six such games in their first seven seasons (322 games).

• They were not caught stealing over their first seven games, the longest streak without being caught to begin a season in team history.

• The Tom Sox have not stolen more than three bases in a game since July 3, a streak of eight games.

SHUTDOWN ARMS:

• The Tom Sox lead the Valley League in virtually every major pitching stat with a 3.46 ERA, .200 opponent average, 4.4 BB/9, 11.1 K/9, and a 2.6 strikeout to walk ratio.

• ‘Sox pitchers have allowed four or fewer runs in 19 of 29 games. They have not allowed double-digit runs in a game this season.

• The Tom Sox have not allowed more than eight runs at home this season.

• Seven total pitchers have allowed one or no runs this season.

SAME FACES, NEW PLACES:

• 15 total Tom Sox players (active and inactive) entered the season with the intent to transfer (either in the transfer portal or transferring from JUCO), with eight of them finding destinations as of Thursday morning (July 13).

• The ‘Sox who have publicly committed to new schools include Josh Tate (Georgia Southern), Nathan Fink (Florida Southwestern JC), Jordan Little (Virginia Tech), David Utagawa (UC Irvine), Henry Hardie (High Point), Salvy Alvarez (Florida Southwestern JC), Ryan Keenan (Georgetown), and Lucas Cash (Wake Tech CC).

• A total of 24 players on this season’s overall roster have either transferred or are currently in the transfer portal.

• Editor’s note: All players who are listed in the transfer portal without a final destination are either listed in the D1Baseball Transfer Tracker or have graduated from their junior college/4-year college.

PRO SOX:

• Ten former Tom Sox players were drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft that concluded Tuesday, a new 20-round record. 

• Nine of the ten picks played for the 2021 team, while two played for the 2022 team (Brady Kirtner played for both).

• Wyatt Langford became the highest Tom Sox player drafted, going fourth overall to the Rangers. 

• Two ‘Sox were selected in the third round, just five picks apart from each other – Jack Hurley (80, D-Backs) and Cole Foster (85, Giants).

• Cooper Ingle went in the fourth round, 125th overall to the Guardians, while Christian Worley was the final day two pick with the 275th pick in the ninth round to the Cardinals.

• The final five were selected on day three: Brady Kirtner (12th round, 366th pick, Mets), Marty Gair (13, 403, Phillies), Elijah Nuñez (14, 405, Nationals), Garrett Wright (20, 599, White Sox), and Pierce Bennett (20, 613, Phillies).

• Three 2021 ‘Sox were selected in the 2021/22 drafts, giving the team 12 total pro picks.

SCOUTING FRONT ROYAL:

• After a first half over .500, the Cardinals are 16-19 and have lost seven of their last ten games.

• Front Royal sits eighth in the Valley League and is just a few win percentage points ahead of Purcellville for the final playoff spot.

• The Cardinals offense ranks tenth in the VBL at .257, while their pitching staff is sixth (5.15).

• Blaze OSaben, a member of the VBL All-Name team, is Front Royal’s batting leader at .333. His 23 stolen bases rank second in the league.

• Cole Schiff is third in the VBL with a 3.51 ERA.