The Shadow
CULPEPER – Covington and Culpeper will play each other eight times this season. However, through the first four Valley Baseball League games, it hasn’t been easy for the Lumberjacks as they have lost three out of four to the Cavaliers, including three in a row following an 11-4 loss Saturday night at Culpeper County High School.
After Culpeper won 6-3 the night before on Friday at Casey Field, the two teams met again on Saturday and while the Lumberjacks were looking to get one back at the Cavaliers, it was a late offense surge from the Cavs in the bottom of the seventh inning that broke the game open.
Covington came out swinging in the top of the first inning as the Lumberjacks pushed across two runs. Thomas Marsala (1-for-4) led the game off with a double, which was followed by an RBI single from Spencer Williams (1-for-3). A few batters later, Williams would score on a sacrifice fly out from Jorge Santana III (0-for-4).
And then the offense went scoreless from the second inning through the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, Culpeper’s bats finally woke up in the bottom of the fourth inning as the Cavaliers scored all four runs of the inning on one swing. With two outs and the bases loaded Ryan Kroepel (2-for-3) crushed a 1-2 pitch over the fence for a grand-slam home run.
With a three-run advantage the Cavs’ added their fifth run of the game in the bottom of the fifth on a Connor Maryniak (0-for-4) RBI groundout.
The Lumberjacks would get back into the game with a run in the sixth and seventh innings coming on a Chenar Brown (1-for-3) sacrifice flyout and Jose Alfonso’s (2-for-3) second home run of the season.
Now trailing 5-4, momentum seemed to be back on Covington’s side. Or so it seemed.
Blagen Pado (1-for-4) hit a one out solo home run to put Culpeper back up a pair of runs at 6-4. The Cavaliers would add two more on a Gabriel Larry (1-for-3) two-run double.
Then once again facing two outs, Kroepel’s big day at the plate continued. With two runners on, the left-handed swinger out of Arizona State University crushed his second home run of the game, this time a three-run homer.
The Cavs’ pushed six runs across in the seventh inning to take a commanding 11-4 lead which was more than enough to hold down the Jacks’.
Kroepel, the number seven batter in the lineup, torched Covington for seven RBI’s, along with the two home runs (grand-slam, three-run). Culpeper only managed six total hits, with half of them coming from home runs.
For the Lumberjacks there were a lot of missed opportunities. The team left 13 on base and had numerous scoreless innings where they left pairs of runners stranded.
Despite their hot start out of the dugout where they pushed across two runs in the first inning on a pair of hits, as a team the Jacks’ struggled at the plate by going just 5-for-28. Alfonso was the lone Lumberjack with a multi-hit performance where he had a home run and a run scored, along with drawing a walk.
Covington used three pitchers in the loss. Garrett Darner (L, 0-1) suffered the loss on the mound after allowing three runs, on just one hit in 3.2 innings where he also walked a pair and struck out four. Cesar Valera and Justin Peterson also made appearances for the Jacks’
Of course, weather permitting, the next time these two teams meet will be on back-to-back days once again. On Sunday, July 7th at Culpeper High School and Monday, July 8th at Casey Field.
Covington 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 – 4 5 3
Culpeper 0 0 0 4 1 0 6 0 x – 11 6 1
W – Tyler Smith. L – Garrett Darner.
