The Shadow
COVINGTON – There’s no hotter team in the Valley League than Covington right now. The Lumberjacks moved their winning streak to six games following a 7-2 victory over Culpeper this past Monday in Covington at Casey Field.
Playing against the Cavaliers for the second night in a row, the Jacks’ playing home this time found the offense that they lacked despite picking up the win from the evening before.
After falling behind two runs early on, Covington’s offense took control of the game during the 3-5 innings as the Lumberjacks pushed across seven runs in those three innings to build a five-run lead that they would not relinquish.
Carlos Castillo (2-for-4) put on a show for the home crowd at Casey Field. In just his second game as a member of the Lumberjacks Castillo belted two home runs and collected four RBI’s. Castillo’s first home run gave the Jacks’ a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 4th inning and his second homer was a three-run blast in the 5th inning.
Spencer Williams (1-for-3), and Quentin Jenkins (1-for-4) each had RBIs for the Jacks’.
In the evening prior where Covington only collected four hits despite their 5-4 victory over Culpeper, the Lumberjacks offense would bounce back in their win on Monday by collecting 11 total hits. Castillo and Wilfred Gonzalez (2-for-4) were the only batters with multiple hits.
On the mound it was a great start from Michael Fortes (W/2-1) who earned his second win of the season for Covington. In his fifth start of the season, Fortes allowed two runs on three hits, but also matched a season-high seven strikeouts in five innings.
Once again, the Lumberjacks bullpen was spectacular. The Jacks’ bullpen threw four shutout innings. John Vazquez tossed three shutout innings and struck out three, while Jorge A. Garcia III recorded the final three outs of the game and in the process struck out a pair.
Brock Bollinger (2-for-4) led Culpeper with a pair of hits, while Ryan Kroepel (1-for-3) and Tyler Shulman (0-for-2) provided the Cavaliers with an RBI each. Carter Rasmussen (L) took the loss for the Cavs’ after allowing seven runs on eight hits in five innings.
Culpeper 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 6 1
Covington 0 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 x – 7 11 1
W – Michael Fortes. L – Carter Rasmussen.
