CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A flaming hot night at Charlottesville High School set the stage for a rematch between two of the top three teams in the South Division — the Charlottesville Tom Sox (9-3) and the Waynesboro Generals (6-7).
Charlottesville had the early season-series advantage with dominant victories in the first two affairs against Waynesboro. The Generals, who fell 16-1 in each of the first two matchups, knew they had to come to enemy territory with a quick offensive plan, and they executed as the top of the order got to Tom Sox starter Trevor Booton (Auburn) quickly with a lead-off single off the bat of Cesar Morillo. With two stolen bases and a fielding error by Charlottesville, the Generals struck early for a 1-0 lead.
But what the Tom Sox have done so well this season is respond to early adversity, and in the bottom half of the opening frame, Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) and Tommy Roldan (Virginia) lined back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners.
After a pick-off attempt to Roldan at first, Gibson dashed home, leveling the game at one. The following a walk allowed by Generals starting pitcher Luke Richards, Ryan Wynn (Wofford) and David Wiley (Wofford) roped a pair of singles scoring Roldan and Colby Wallace (East Carolina) to give Charlottesville the 3-1 lead after one inning of play.
After allowing the first-inning run, Booton settled in, retiring 12 of the next 15 batters he faced, striking out two Generals while letting his defense make plays behind him. He would go four total innings pitched before a call to the bullpen for Charlottesville.
The same would go for the visiting starter Richards, who retired 11 out of 12 batters after his shaky first inning, striking out three after allowing the early offensive spark.
In the top half of the fifth inning, Brett Gastman (Charleston Southern) came on in relief for the Tom Sox and after delivering a strikeout, allowed a double but battled through the frame without allowing any damage for the visitors.
In the bottom of the inning, Richards was pulled after getting two outs and allowing a walk to Gibson, who would come around to score making it 4-1.
Kamau Freeman Jr. entered in relief for the Generals. After allowing a walk and a single he was welcomed by Wiley who blasted a three-run bomb over the left-centerfield fence, blowing the game open with a 7-1 lead.
“It’s a Saturday night and we had a lot of fans here, so that was exciting,” said Wiley. “I think we’re just having fun out there, we have a great group here, a lot of good guys to be around.”
Gastman, now working with a comfortable lead, was lights out, striking out the side in the top half of the sixth and controlling the top of the seventh while punching out his fifth batter of the evening.
“[I was] just attacking the zone, trusting my defense, just trusting Jack [McMullan (Liberty)] behind the plate,” said Gastman. “[I’ve been] working with Coach Tomlin, Coach Doff (Adam Dofflemyer) throughout last week and I felt like we figured some things out and it translated to the mound tonight. I’m just glad that I was able to go out and compete for this team.”
Charlottesville delivered the knockout punch in the bottom of the seventh with a Gibson double, a Roldan walk, and a Wallace single scoring Gibson to make it 8-1. Three batters later, Sam Mummau (Florida) blasted a triple off the wall that brought in Roldan and Wallace as the Tom Sox took a 10-1 stranglehold lead.
Ryan Grzesiak (Florida Southwestern) took the mound in the top of the eighth for an inning of work, sitting the heart of the Waynesboro order down 1-2-3.
The ball was turned over to Palmer O’Beirne (State Col of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) to finish the job in the ninth. O’Beirne was greeted with a walk and a single to get in an early jam, and the Generals were able to get a run with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Christian Castaneda scoring Bentley Yeatts. But O’Beirne was able to get the final two Waynesboro batters to each fly out Wiley in right field, slamming the door shut.
The Sox’s high-powered offense has now generated at least 10 runs in all three ballgames against the Generals this season, propelling the squad to a 3-0 season record against their South Division rivals from Waynesboro.
“You just try to play one at a time, you don’t get caught up with the amount of wins and losses, it’s about the next game you play to improve and be consistent” said Head Coach Randy Tomlin. “Tonight was really good. We got the pitching, we got the hitting and we played very well on defense.”
UP NEXT:
The Charlottesville Tom Sox hit the road to Casey Field for the first time this summer on Sunday for a matchup with the Covington Lumberjacks with a chance to become the first to ten wins in the VBL. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- The Tom Sox have outscored the Generals 42-4 in their three meetings this season.
- Charlottesville batted 6-for-14 (.428) with runners in scoring position.
- Johnnie Lopez extended his on-base streak to 11 games, the longest on the team.
