Playoff Picture Starts to Come into Focus

Front Royal 3, Winchester 2

Down to its last out, Front Royal hit back-to-back home runs to rally for a North Division clinching victory over Winchester. Jared Simon and Dan Evatt took Steven Rivera deep for the tying and winning runs, respectively, and in the process the Cardinals have now clinched at least a share of the North Division.

Steve Sabins hit a solo HR for Winchester, who also received nine strikeouts from Rivera.

Covington 10,7 - Rockbridge 4,3

Covington Lumberjacks secured its spot in the Valley League Baseball playoffs with a doubleheader sweep of Rockbridge at Casey Field, 10-4 and 7-3.

Ryan Durrence hit a three-run first inning home run in game one to key the victory for the ‘Jacks. Adam Browett added three hits while Lammar Guy and Junior Arrojo had a two hits each.

Rob Froio was 3-for-3 for the Rapids.

In the nightcap, Covington scored seven runs in the last of the sixth to get the win.

Jairo Acevado knocked in two runs for Covington while Brian DeLucia and Joe Charron both had two hits for Rockbridge

Woodstock 10, Harrisonburg 3

Woodstock clinched at least a tie for a wild card spot by downing Harrisonburg 10-3. With two games remaining, Woodstock can clinch a spot outright with either one win or losses by both the Turks and Haymarket.

Shawn Ablett led the Bandits at the plate with a triple, a home run and three RBI while Will Hudgins won his 3rd game of the year with seven strike outs in six innings.

Shaun Cooper was 2 for 5 with two doubles and two RBI for the Turks.

Fauquier 4, Haymarket 2

Fauquier snapped its four-game losing streak and put itself back into the second wild card spot by doubling up Haymarket Tuesday evening. The Gators need three wins in their final four games regardless of what Haymarket and Harrisonburg do in order to clinch the final playoff spot.

Michael Patton struck out four in seven innings to earn the win on the mound for Fauquier.

Luray 11,9 - New Market 8,6

Luray clinched at least a tie for a playoff berth by taking two games from New Market. The Wranglers opened up the evening by finishing off a suspended game from last week, winning 11-8, and then topped the Rebels 9-6 in the regularly scheduled game.

AJ Wirnsberger drove in two runs with two hits for Luray in the full game while Seth Kivett had three RBI for New Market.

Pablo Bermudez paced the Wranglers in the suspended contest with four runs batted in.

Staunton 16, Waynesboro 8

Staunton kept itself in position to earn the top seed in the Valley playoffs by doubling up Waynesboro. The loss also eliminates the Generals from playoff consideration.

Blake McDade was 4 for 6 with a two-run HR for the Braves while Kent Burford and Kyle Blackburn added three hits each.

Evan Stobbs had a home run among his two hits and Tony Caldwell added three hits for Waynesboro.