COVINGTON – Following their walk-off grand-slam victory the night before on Saturday, the Covington Lumberjacks picked up their straight win following a 9-5 defeat of the Waynesboro Generals Sunday night on June 18th.
Covington struck early on Waynesboro by taking a 6-0 lead after the first three innings. An error by the Generals third baseman brought home two runs in the first inning, while Gabriel Miranda added an RBI triple which put the Lumberjacks ahead 3-0.
Already in front by three scores, Kendry Noriega added more run support for the Lumberjacks in the second inning as he delivered his second home run of the season which put the team ahead 4-0.
The Lumberjacks would add two unearned runs in the third inning as they built a six-run advantage.
Having scored a run back in the fourth inning, Waynesboro cut the deficit in half in the sixth inning on a two-run single from Brandon Parks.
Just as it seemed that the Generals were back in the game, the Lumberjacks answered in the home half of the sixth inning with RBI’s from Michael Pavelchak, Logan Braunschweig, and Matthew Martinolich. The Lumberjacks were back ahead six runs at 9-3.
In just his second start on the mound this season and his fourth appearance overall, Alexander Llinas pitched an excellent outing. In five innings, Llinas allowed one run on five hits, walked a pair, and struck out four which earned him his first win.
As good as Llinas was starting on the mound the Lumberjacks bullpen was shaky. The team used five pitchers in four innings and combined to allow four runs on four hits, while walking three.
Covington’s offense exploded with 12 hits. It was the first time in five games where they had double digits in the hits column.
For the third straight game and fourth time on the season, Gregory Melo had a three-hit performance at the plate as he led Covington once again going 3-for-4 on the night along with three runs scored. AJ Fiechter led the Lumberjacks with two RBI’s.
Waynesboro 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 – 5 9 1
Covington 3 1 2 0 0 3 0 0 X – 9 12 0
W – Llinas. L – Berryman. HP – WG: Brown and Lamar. CL: Fiechter and Quevedo. 2B – CL: Melo. 3B – CL: Miranda. HR – CL: Noriega. RBI – WG: Parks 2 and Menendez. CL: Fiechter 2, Noriega, Braunschweig, Martinolich, and Miranda. SB – WG: Brown and Parks. CL: Noriega. LOB – WG: 8. CL: 9.