Yarborough Goes Deep as Lumberjacks Defeat Culpeper 8-4

COVINGTON, Va. (VR) – The Covington Lumberjacks earned their second win of the season Thursday night, defeating the Culpeper Cavaliers 8-4 at Casey Field.

Culpeper struck first in the opening inning when Greyson Gegg singled to center, driving home Nick Matson for a 1-0 lead. Covington answered immediately in the bottom half. After Chris Carroll and Darrius Brown reached and scored, Cross Yarborough lined a two-run single to center field to give the Lumberjacks a 2-1 advantage.

Yarborough added to the lead in the third inning, blasting a solo home run to left field, his fourth homer of the season, making it 3-1. The Lumberjacks broke the game open in the fourth. Frankie Clark scored on an RBI single by Brown before Caleb Miele delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Brown and extend the lead to 5-1. Lucas Rodriguez kept Culpeper in check through five innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five to earn the win.

The Cavaliers trimmed the deficit to 5-2 in the sixth when Noah Burnham grounded out to score Gegg, but Covington answered in the bottom half. Clark came around to score on Carroll’s RBI single to left, pushing the lead back to four runs. In the seventh, Zach Doorlag crossed the plate on Mason Reid’s RBI single to make it 7-2. Culpeper added a run on a wild pitch in the eighth, but Miele drove in another run in the bottom of the inning with a groundout that scored Clark for an 8-3 advantage.

The Cavaliers scored once more in the ninth on a groundout by Cole Pippenger, but Covington closed out the 8-4 victory. Yarborough led the offense, finishing 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Clark went 2-for-3 with a double, three runs scored and a walk. Carroll finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Brown was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Rodriguez improved to 2-1 on the season with the win. Nikolas Koorse, Deundre Jones, Devin Grazzal and Quindon Wright combined to cover the final four innings out of the bullpen.

Covington improved to 2-8 on the season with the victory.