Generals pitching coach Derek McDaniel did not hesitate to hand the ball to freshman hurler Jake Cowan late in the season.

For the 17th straight year, a Bowden-coached team is the preseason favorite in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Pitching and defense are normally Waynesboro’s keys to victory. Sunday they failed them to the tone of five errors and eight runs given up by starter Jeff Sinkiewicz in a 14-5 loss to New Market at the KC.

Patience and timely pitching, although not the most beautiful ways to win a ball game, always form a winning combination for Waynesboro.

The season is quickly winding down and Waynesboro is on track to check off more on its preseason list.

LURAY — Fans were on the edge of their seats, the tension was thicker than the humidity that had worked its way into Bulldog Park and Vienna pitcher Jimmy Duggan toed the rubber for the visitors against Waynesboro.

The Generals extended their first place lead in the South Division over Covington to four games on Monday night defeating last place Front Royal 9-3 at Kate Collins field.

After a break on Sunday thanks to the weather, Waynesboro is back to the grindstone for the final 13 games of the season, including Monday’s game against the North’s last-place team, Front Royal, and today’s game against the No. 1 team in the country, Vienna.

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Both starting pitchers were as close to perfect as they could be, giving up one run combined.
Fauquier rallied in the ninth against Waynesboro on Wednesday night to knot the score 4-4, but the Generals stopped the surge scoring in the tenth.
Grant Buckner hit a sacrifice fly with bases loaded and one out to give Waynesboro the 5-4 win.

He takes his sweet time getting the ring out even though you’ve made it clear that you want to see it.

SUNDAY IN SPORTS: Showalter’s been there, done that

The Generals are 13 games into the season and the grind of the Valley League schedule is beginning to set in for the players and coaching staff. But even with 13 down, coach Lawrence Nesselrodt is still looking for players to add to the roster.
“It’s difficult,” he said before Thursday’s game against Covington. “Most of the fish are out of the pond, but [assistant coach] Derek [McDaniel] and I together, we found eight names [Thursday]. It’s as much about timing as anything, you just got to have faith that the timing works out.”

What a difference a day can make.
After striking out 18 times Wednesday night against Staunton, Waynesboro pulled out the heavy lumber against first-place Covington to win 7-3 and take a half-game lead of the Valley League’s South Division on Thursday night

Staunton ended a three-game losing streak, once again baffling a strong Waynesboro lineup, 3-1, Wednesday night at the KC.
The loss knocked Waynesboro out of first place in the South Division of the Valley League. Covington leads by half-a-game and will get a chance to extend its lead tonight when the team travels to Waynesboro.

OMAHA, Neb. — Blake Dean barely arrived at second base when his joyous LSU teammates mobbed him, starting the kind of celebration usually reserved for a national championship game.
After the hugging and backslapping were over, Dean showed the old been-there-done-that attitude as he talked about his game-winning, three-run double that kept the Tigers alive at the College World Series.

The first meeting of 2008 between last season’s Valley Baseball League finalists proved to be all wet.
With the Waynesboro Generals leading the Luray Wranglers 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky just past the outfield of Kate Collins Field, interrupting the game. The slight drizzle that had begun an inning earlier turned into heavier drops as the players and fans scurried for cover.

Entering the sixth inning Waynesboro led on the scoreboard, 4-2. Little did the General fans know that their team would blow the game wide open over the course of one inning to capture a 10-2 win over visiting Front Royal Sunday night.
Cardinals’ reliever Danny Reimenschneider entered the inning having given up only three hits in the previous three innings, striding to the rubber confidently as Ryan Danbury stepped in for the Generals.

The Waynesboro Generals started Sunday night’s game against Front Royal with Even Webb scoring the first run of the night in the first inning after a Troy Graybill wild pitch. 
The Cardinals’ night didn’t get much better ending with a 10-2 loss to the Generals.

Familiar faces are hard to come by in the Valley League, with players getting picked up in the draft, going home, trekking to another summer league or returning to school. Two-year players are rare enough, but the Waynesboro Generals wrangled Brandon Sizemore for a third year.
“It’s electrified not just the team but the community,” said Generals coach Lawrence Nesselrodt. “The people are familiar with Brandon and that’s a bonus for us. For me, he’s a great baseball player and he brings energy to every ball that’s hit at him.”

It was homecoming for Brandon Sizemore, the fan favorite, playing his first game of the year for Waynesboro. Sizemore impressed the home crowd, sending them home happy with a sixth inning two-run home run to win the game 9-7 over visiting Haymarket.

It took 16 innings, 12 pitchers, 111 at bats, 37 players and a umpire to fall out from dehydration for Waynesboro to pick up its fourth win of the season.
The Generals battled New Market for nearly five hours on the hottest night of the season, waiting on the Rebels to make a mistake. In the bottom of the 16th, Rebels third baseman Drew Hannon threw away a routine ground ball allowing Aaron Bonomi to score from second, giving the Generals the 4-3 win.

Waynesboro tried to stop its recent slump, but gave another away on Saturday night against Fauquier. The squad has averaged three errors per game and continued that cycle against Fauquier losing 5-2, and falling to .500 with a 3-3 record. 
Although they did not commit three errors this game, one was enough to seal the deal.

STAUNTON — It’s a long way from the Gulf Coast to the Shenandoah Valley.
But a no-hitter is a rare baseball feat, no matter the location.
The Staunton Braves’ Lance Baxter, from South Alabama, tossed a no-no at the Waynesboro Generals Thursday night, accomplishing the pitching milestone for the first time since high school.

It’s hard to rebound, especially when rain interferes.
Waynesboro will have to wait another day before attempting to redeem itself from a tough loss at Front Royal after a rainout at the KC on Wednesday night.
“I think we played like crap [Tuesday],” Waynesboro pitcher Adam Liberatore said. “If we play like that a lot, we’re not going to win too many games.”

Don’t blink.

You’ll miss Terrell Thompson on the base paths.

Try not to close your eyes for a second or you’ll miss Waynesboro’s speedy junior, and hands down the most dangerous player in the Southern Valley District (and Region III, maybe?), score.

Waynesboro started its defense of the Valley League championship on the right foot, putting up a 13-run first inning against an undermanned Harrisonburg squad in the Generals’ season-opener. Waynesboro scored three more runs in the game to earn a 16-4 opening night win at Kate Collins Field.
After the Generals sat the Turks down in order in the top of the first, Waynesboro leadoff man Ryan Danbury hit a line-drive single on the second pitch to put Waynesboro on the bases for the first time of the season.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jemile Weeks hit a three-run homer and Enrique Garcia threw seven scoreless innings to lead top-seeded Miami into the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 5-2 victory over North Carolina State on Saturday.
The Hurricanes (46-8) will play Virginia at 1 p.m. Sunday. Miami swept the regular-season series from the Cavaliers 3-0 at home and have a four-game winning streak against them.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Syracuse rallied from a season-high five-goal deficit to beat Virginia 12-11 and advance to the NCAA lacrosse championship when Mike Leveille scored his fifth goal of the game with 1:43 left in the second overtime.
The Orange will play for their 10th NCAA lacrosse championship, and first since 2004, on Monday against the winner of the late semifinal between Duke and Johns Hopkins.