The Shadow
COVINGTON – The fourth of July fireworks came one day earlier as Covington for the second night in a row rallied in extra innings for a walk-off victory as the Lumberjacks defeated Charlottesville for the first time this season following a 7-6 win at Casey Field Wednesday night.
For the second game in a row Covington’s opposing team jumped out to a wide margin. Charlottesville pushed across four runs in the first two innings on Wednesday which was nearly similar to how Staunton jumped out to an 8-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings the night before.
This time the Lumberjacks didn’t wait four innings to draw some steam from their offense. The Jacks’ trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning jumped on the scoreboard on a solo home run from All-Star Kaleb Henry (2-for-5).
Despite Covington showing some life in the second inning, the offense would go down quietly through the 3-5 innings, while Charlottesville would get the run back during their fourth inning to retake a four-run lead at 5-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning the Lumberjacks would cut the deficit in half following a two-run home run from All-Star Chenar Brown (2-for-4).
While Covington’s offense was showing steam, Charlottesville was going cold as the team was held scoreless from the 5-9 innings.
Now facing their final six outs and down a pair of runs, Covington seemed primed to break out during the bottom of the eighth inning. After the first two batters reached base, Brown drove in a run on an RBI single to bring the Lumberjacks within one run at 5-4.
Still with no outs and runners on first & second base, Jose Alfonso (0-for-3) walked to load the bases. Following the walk, Charlottesville head coach Randy Tomlin made the best decision of the game for the TomSox as he brought in Ryan Grzesiak from the bullpen. The Chantilly, Va native would get the TomSox out of the bases loaded no out jam. The right-handed pitcher out of Florida Southwestern State would first strikeout Heny for out number one. Then Grzesiak would get Nick Paszt (0-for-4) to ground out into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
All of the momentum Covington had seemed to be sucked away following their collapse in the eighth inning despite getting within a run.
However, the Lumberjacks would not go down without a fight. After Cesar Valera worked out of a jam in the top of the ninth inning, the Jacks’ magic would continue from the night before. With the bases loaded and only one out, Gregory Melo (1-for-3) who tied the game the night before with a three-run double, tied the game again the following night as he singled up the middle scoring Dariel Castillo (0-for-4) from third base. The Jacks’ looking to win the game, Thomas Marsala (2-for-5) who began the at-bat at second base got the signal to go home on Melo’s single, however, Dean Mihos (1-for-5) fired a cannon from centerfield to home plate as Cale Stricklin (0-for-) made the game-saving tag on Marsala.
Two batters later, Alfonso would ground out to end the inning. Covington though did its job and tied the game.
In the top of the 10th inning the South Division first-place TomSox retook the lead at 6-5 after grabbing their first run scored since the fourth inning. It would not be doomsday though for the Lumberjacks who would once again rally in the bottom of the inning. After Alfonso scored the tying run to start the inning, the Jacks’ would put runners on the corner bases at first and third. With one out Castillo would hit a ground ball to the shortstop who instead of going home with the throw attempted to save the game with a double play. However, the TomSox got the first out at second, however Castillo was safe at first and so too was Henry who crossed home plate for the game-winning run.
Covington may have not been in the position they were had it not been for John Vazquez who was solid out of the bullpen for the Lumberjacks. The right-handed pitcher out of Barry University allowed one run on one hit in 4.2 innings, while striking out a season-high seven. Luke Wilkerson was also effective out of the bullpen for the Jacks’ as the righty tossed two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings.
Charlottesville used eight pitchers in the loss and left 14 batters stranded despite collecting fewer hits than Covington. Meanwhile Caden Ferraro (3-for-5) led the TomSox offensively with three hits and three RBI’s.
Covington had four batters with two hits each, while Brown led the team with three RBI’s.
The win was the Lumberjacks third in a row and was the first of the season against the TomSox as the Jacks’ improved to 1-4 against them with three left to go.
Charlottesville 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 6 8 0
Covington 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 – 7 10 2
W – Cesar Valera. L – Chase Stryker.
