CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Charlottesville Tom Sox (0-0) will face the Staunton Braves (0-0) to open their 2024 season at John Moxie Memorial Stadium in Staunton. It will be broadcast live on the Braves Facebook page. First pitch is set for 7:30 P.M.
Coverage: Viewers can head to the Braves Facebook page to watch tonight’s game. A link to the live stats is available on Pointstreak. The Tom Sox X account (@CvilleTomSox) will provide live updates.
Ticket Information: Admission to Braves games is $7 per person. Admission to Friday’s game also includes complimentary admission to the pregame concert by country artist Spencer Hatcher. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Staunton: TBA
Charlottesville: LHP Isaac Fix (Davidson)
LEADING OFF:
- The Tom Sox begin their ninth season in 2024 with a trek over the mountain to face the Staunton Braves.
- Charlottesville enters the 2024 season following their second consecutive appearance in the Valley League championship series, and their fifth in the last six seasons.
- Friday night’s game marks the first under the administration of Head Coach Randy Tomlin.
- The Tom Sox have a 223-151 all-time record entering the 2024 season. 85% of those wins have come since 2017.
- The 2024 Tom Sox opening day roster features players from 21 different colleges – 19 pitchers and 11 position players.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT:
- Charlottesville’s coaching staff in 2024 will feature a former major leaguer, a former Division I head coach, a former College World Series champion, and a current D-III assistant coach.
- Leading the staff will be former Pittsburgh Pirate Randy Tomlin, who pitched in 106 Major League games across his five-year career.
- Tomlin joins the ‘Sox while serving as the Head Coach of Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg. In his 12 seasons at Liberty Christian, the Bulldogs have won four state championships (two in VISAA, two in VHSL) and are currently competing for a fifth, sporting a perfect 22-0 record on the season.
- Ten-year University of Georgia Head Coach Scott Stricklin joins the Tom Sox as Tomlin’s lead assistant. In his ten years with the Bulldogs, Stricklin coached in three NCAA Regionals, a pair of which were hosted in Athens.
- 2015 College World Series champion Kenny Towns joins the staff as an assistant coach. Towns is Virginia’s record-holder in postseason games played and was named to a trio of All-Regional teams. This will be Towns’ first collegiate coaching experience.
- Mary Washington Pitching Coach Adam Dofflemyer joins the Tom Sox in the same role in 2024. This season, the Eagles went 27-13 and won the opening game of their conference tournament against top-10 Salisbury before falling to Christopher Newport.
- Finally, Coy Tomlin (Randy’s son) will support the Tom Sox from the dugout as an assistant coach all season long.
NEW IN ‘24:
- Beginning this season, the Valley League will play a modified 40-game schedule, as opposed to the 44-game schedule played last season.
- All 40 regular season games will be played against divisional opponents for the first time, eliminating inter-division play and significant travel for teams.
- Following the regular season, the top three teams from each division will be seeded 1-3. The 2 and 3-seeds will face off in a single wild-card game, which will determine who will face the one seed in the division championship.
- Both the best-of-3 division championship and VBL Championship series will take place as in prior years, with the North and South division champions facing off for the Jim Lineweaver Trophy.
- For the first time, the Valley League’s All-Star festivities will take place across two days. Purcellville will host VBL All-Star Weekend on June 29 and 30 which will feature the traditional home run derby & game, plus a high school home run derby, live music, and other exciting events.
FOR OPENERS:
- The Tom Sox are 2-6 all-time in season openers, including a two-game losing streak. The two wins came in 2017 & 2021.
- The ‘Sox fell to Waynesboro in last season’s opener, 3-1 at home.
- The Tom Sox open the season on the road for the sixth time in their nine seasons. They are 1-4 all-time when opening the season on the road.
SEASON TO REMEMBER:
- The Tom Sox advanced to their second-straight Valley League championship series last season, which was their fifth championship appearance in the last six seasons.
- The Tom Sox finished the regular season with a regular season of 28-16 before going 4-4 in the playoffs.
- They dropped game one of successive playoff series against Front Royal and Strasburg before bouncing back to win games two and three.
- Game two against Strasburg was among the most dramatic in ‘Sox history. Down 9-5 in the top of the ninth, the Tom Sox hit consecutive solo home runs to bring the game within two. Then, down to their final out, Kyle Edwards hit a two-run home run to tie the game at nine and send it to extra innings. The Tom Sox were then able to prevail in the tenth on RBI singles by Nathan Fink and Jacob Ference.
- Since winning their first championship in 2017, the Tom Sox have both won and appeared in more championship games than any other VBL team.
- Offensively, Henry Ford paced the ‘Sox with a .316 batting average, despite missing 1/3 of the season with a hand injury. He set the team’s single-season home run record with seven across his 35 games played.
- Leading the Tom Sox on the mound was VBL Pitcher of the Year Mark Pekins, who sported a 1.12 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. Mike Eggert was also impressive, pitching to a 1.20 ERA and 27 punchouts across 30 innings.
- The Tom Sox played 52 games last season, a new team record. They scored 6+ runs in 31 of those games, and were 25-6 in said contests.
- They also clobbered the previous stolen base record, nabbing 142 bases after previously stealing 110 in 2021.
BRAVING IT:
- Charlottesville has a 33-21 all-time lead against Staunton, including an active 6-game win streak.
- A win tonight will give the Tom Sox the longest win streak by either team in series history.
- Charlottesville has won 16 of the last 23 games against the Braves, dating back to the 2019 postseason. They swept last year’s season series 4-0, the first time in series history either team walked out with a sweep.
- The 12-game advantage in the series is Charlottesville’s best over any divisional opponent.
- The Tom Sox and Braves will face off eight times this season, double the number of meetings last season. They will meet four times at John Moxie Stadium and four at Charlottesville High School.
SCOUTING STAUNTON:
- The Braves finished 10th in the VBL last season with a 17-27 overall record.
- Brady Bogart begins his first season as Staunton’s head coach. In addition to his role with the Braves, Bogart serves as the pitching coach at North Florida.
- A trio of Braves players share colleges with their Tom Sox foes – James Madison’s Zachary Horn (Alex Bingler), and Florida Southwestern’s Nate Ward (Ryan Grzesiak), and the State College of Florida’s Hayden Gustavson (Palmer O’Beirne).
TITLETOWN:
- The Tom Sox have been the Valley’s most successful team since winning their first title in 2017.
- The ‘Sox have appeared in all but one championship series since ‘17 (2021) and have won the league title in three of those six years.
- Charlottesville’s 190-99 record since the start of the 2017 season is the best in the VBL.
- Charlottesville’s six championship appearances and three titles since 2017 are both the most in the VBL over that span. They are tied with Strasburg in both titles won and championship appearances if including the entirety of Charlottesville’s nine seasons of existence.
- The Tom Sox have won the league title in alternating seasons since their first title in 2017.
#MLBSOX:
- Charlottesville sports one of the league’s most prolific MLB rosters.
- Four former ‘Sox have appeared in an MLB game in 2024, highlighted by Vinnie Pasquantino and Wyatt Langford.
- Pasquantino, Charlottesville’s first MLB player when he debuted in 2021, is Kansas City’s starting first baseman. He has hit six home runs on the year and carries a .713 OPS on a Royals team that currently ranks second in the AL Central.
- Langford earned the honor of becoming Charlottesville’s first-ever first round pick when he was selected fourth overall in last summer’s MLB Draft. According to MLB.com, he was the third-fastest hitter ever to reach MLB, earning a starting role as a rookie on the Texas Rangers.
- Additionally, two former ‘Sox pitchers have appeared in Major League games this spring – Cincinnati’s Carson Spiers and Pittsburgh’s Kyle Nicolas.
