The Shadow
Two costly errors and an ill-located pitch put an end to the Covington Lumberjacks three-game winning streak as the Winchester Royals used a late rally to erase a four-run deficit and post a 7-4 Valley League win Thursday at Casey Field.
Casey Selsor (University of Texas-San Antonio) started on the hill for the Jacks and threw six innings. Selsor allowed two unearned runs on five hits, while striking out two and walking two.
The Lumberjacks got out to a fast start scoring two runs in each of the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead.
Michael Garcia (Eastern Kentucky) got the Lumberjacks on the board with a solo bomb to lead off the bottom of the second. Brandon Turner (Bethune-Cookman) connected for a two-out double and Florida State’s Sherman Johnson followed with an RBI single to give the Jacks a 2-0 lead.
Covington’s Mike Martinez (Florida International) belted his fifth home run of the summer – a two-run blast to left field – to increase the Lumberjacks lead to 4-0 after three innings.
Unfortunately for the Lumberjacks, that would be all the run production they could muster. Seven of Covington’s 12 hits came in the first three innings of Thursday’s game.
A pair of errors by shortstop Justin Gonzalez (Florida State) to lead off the top of the fifth allowed Winchester (13-9) to scratch across two runs.
Colby Gratton and Jacob Morley both reached on errors and Ian MacGeorge and Keaton Need followed with consecutive run-scoring hits to cut the Royals’ deficit to two (4-2).
Lumberjacks coach Arlan Freeman (Barry University) elected to bring in Radford’s Cassidy McDaniel in relief of Selsor in the top of the seventh and McDaniel retired the first three batters he faced in order.
That was not the case in the top of the eighth.
Leadoff man Kevin Brashears and Cory Spangenberg ripped consecutive singles to lead off the inning and Raymond Church belted a 2-1 delivery to straight-away center field for a three-run bomb to put Winchester on top 5-4.
The Royals added two more insurance runs off Troy Barton in the ninth to take a 7-4 lead.
McDaniel was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on three hits over two innings. He struck out two batters.
Brock Guetzke picked up the win on the mound for the Royals after throwing a perfect inning of relief in the seventh.
“It’s disappointing,” said Freeman. “We put the bat on the ball, we just couldn’t produce any runs. Those two errors really hurt us late and then Cassidy left one up in the zone and paid for it. I didn’t think he pitched bad at all, he just made one bad pitch.”
Martinez led the Lumberjacks with a 3-for-4, two RBI night, while Johnson, Robby Stahl and Turner had two hits each.
The Lumberjacks are now 11-11 at the halfway point of the summer and Freeman thinks their better days are ahead of them.
“I still think we have one of the best, if not the best, team in the league,” stated Freeman. “We have a solid pitching rotation and we’re putting the bat on the ball. We just have to put a complete game together and start rolling off some wins. We’re in a good position right now for the second half.”
Covington is on the road today at Haymarket and travels to Luray Saturday before taking Sunday and Monday off to observe the July 4th holiday.
The Lumberjacks will be back at home on Tuesday to play host to the Front Royal Cardinals.
