Generals win in the 14th

Waynesboro rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and a sacrifice fly by Evan Stobbs plated Rob Kral to allow the Generals to defeat the Fauquier Gators 5-4 in14 innings on Thursday evening at Fishburne Military School Park at Kate Collins Field.

Kral earned himself a walk in the 14th and stole second, but a bad throw from the catcher allowed Kral to take third. Tony Caldwell then walked and stole second. With runners at second and third Evan Stobbs stepped to the plate and hit a deep fly ball to right that was far enough for Kral to tag and score.

“For a catcher Rob [Kral] runs really well. He is probably second on our team in stolen bases,” said coach Andy Chalot. “Once I saw where the outfielder was lining up there was no question we were going to send him.”

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth the Generals had to score to keep the game alive. Cory Kovanda led off with a single and Sean bukovich bunted him to second. Tyler Biddix pinch hit for Jose Rodriguez and earned a walk.

Rhett Stafford stuck out for the second out in the inning leaving the all the pressure on Alex McClure to keep the game going. McClure calmly ripped a single through the hole plating Kovanda from second to tie the game at four and push it to extra innings.

“He [McClure] is probably the one guy I would want up in that situation,” Chalot said. “One area we have really struggled this year is hitting with runners in scoring position.”

The Gators took the lead on an RBI single by Andres Oster in the eighth inning after trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning. The Gators jumped on the Generals relievers after a strong start from Mike Hernandez to take the lead.

The Generals got on the board first in the third inning after a one-out walk by McClure, the catcher Rob Kral hit a shot over the right field fence to give the Generals the 2-0 lead. The home run was the first for the Generals this season at the Fish.

The Generals struck again with one-out in the bottom of the fourth. Kovanda walked and Bukovich followed with a single. Jose Rodriguez ripped a single to left field plating Kovanda from second for the Generals third run.

The Gators got a run back in the fifth when Oster tripled to right-centerfield scoring Ian Dike from first base. Oster tried to take home on a passed ball by Kral, but Hernandez was there to cover the plate to tag out the sliding Oster.

Hernandez got into a jam with two-outs in the sixth inning by giving up a double to Kevin Dreese and then hit Jordan Erisman and walked Dike to load the bases.

Chalot came out to settle down Hernandez, and after a short meeting on the mound Chalot left Hernandez in to face Oster. He was able to get Oster to groundout to McClure to end the inning.

Hernandez allowed one earned run and one walk while fanning four batters in his six innings of work.

The Gators jumped on Andrew Saab for two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game 3-3, before taking the lead in the eighth.

The Generals will be back at home at The Fish again tonight against the Harrisonburg Turks at 7p.m.