Charlottesville Tom Sox Fall to Covington Lumberjacks 07-17-16

” Covington, VA – The Covington Lumberjacks scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off 9-8 win over the Charlottesville Tom Sox Sunday night at Casey Field.

The Lumberjacks (18-15) trailed 8-6 facing their final three outs in the ninth inning when things went downhill for Charlottesville (11-23). Brandon Vicens doubled to center-field to bring home two runs and tie the game at eight. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Bruce Martin sent a fly ball to deep center-field, giving Vicens plenty of time to tag up and score the winning run.

After two scoreless innings to start the night, Charlottesville’s bats came alive in the third inning when they exploded for five runs on six hits. Justin Novak, Bruce Steel, Dupree Hart, and Brian Fortier all record RBI-hits in the inning.

However, it would not take long for Covington to return the favor. The Lumberjacks got to Charlottesville’s starter Jack Alkire and put up four runs in the bottom of the third inning, forcing an early call to the bullpen for Tom Sox manager Travis Thomas. The Tom Sox bullpen was strong in over six innings of work, but the three-run ninth inning proved the be the deciding factor in the game.

Dupree Hart extended his hit-streak to 16 games with a single in the third inning. The longest hit-streak in the Valley League this year was 17 games by Ray Hernandez of Purcellville. Hart will have an opportunity to tie that in his next game.

Charlottesville will be off the next two days before returning to C-Ville Weekly Ballpark Wednesday night for a 7:00pm match up with the Purcellville Cannons. ”