Rebels Claim Final Spot

LURAY, Va. - Sixth-seeded New Market made it a clean sweep of the lower seeds in the opening round of the Valley League playoffs by eliminating No. 3 Luray with a 9-6 win Wednesday night.

The Rebels, who were the seventh team to qualify for the playoffs, now move on to the semi-finals where they will take on seventh-seeded Haymarket in a best-of-three series.

New Market will hold home field advantage in that series, hosting game one on Thursday night at 7:30 and also the if-necessary game on Saturday evening.

Game two will be played on Friday in Haymarket and is also a 7:30 start.

The winner of this semi-final will take on either fifth-seeded Winchester or No. 8 Covington. That series begins Thursday in Winchester.

On Wednesday evening, the Rebels took the early lead and eventually extended their advantage out to three runs before Luray came back to tie on a three-run double in the fifth.

Unfortunately for the Wranglers, this work would go for naught as Seth Kivett gave New Market the lead for good when he hit a two-run dinger in the top of the sixth.

The Rebels pushed the lead out to 9-4 before Luray scored a pair in the seventh to make it 9-6.

New Market helped itself out with three double plays, including one in the eighth that put the final nail in the Wranglers coffin. Brian Burgess worked a clean ninth to earn the save.