Wow, what a night. Seven games played. 89 runs scored. Standings upheaval. Things are getting wild now, with only 8 days of the regular season left (including the last makeup day). Here we go:

Scores

  • Staunton 5, Aldie 2 (7 innings)
  • Staunton 5, Aldie 1 (7 innings): With the doubleheader sweep, Staunton has moved alone into 3rd place, .5 games ahead of Charles Town, and 1.5 games behind 2nd place Front Royal. The Senators are now alone in 8th place, but the gap has narrowed considerably between them and 9th place Winchester. The Royals are now only 1.0 game behind a playoff spot.
  • New Market 9, Covington 8 (7 innings)
  • Covington 13, New Market 9 (9 innings): With the split, Covington is percentage points in 7th place, just behind Strasburg. and the Rebels are only 1.5 games behind a playoff spot.
  • Front Royal 3, Strasburg 0: The pitching duel between Daniel Guido and Mike Vinson was ended in the 8th inning when the Cardinals’ Nick Sinay singled, was bunted to second, went to third on Shell McCain’s single, and then they both scored in front of Hunter Newman, who homered. Front Royal stays .5 games behind the front-running Turks, and the Express is alone in 6th place, percentage points ahead of Covington.
  • Charles Town 15, Waynesboro 8: With the win, the 4th place Cannons are .5 games behind Staunton, but now .5 games ahead of Waynesboro. The Generals are in 5th place, 4 full games ahead of the next group. There is a distinct gap between the first five teams and the rest of the league!
  • Harrisonburg 6, Woodstock 5 (11 innings): On the power of Jesse Baker’s double in the bottom of the 11th inning, the Turks maintain their spot atop the league, .5 games ahead of Front Royal. The Bandits missed a golden opportunity to get closer to the playoffs. As it stands now, Woodstock is in last place, 2.0 games behind the 8th spot in the playoffs.

Hitter of the Day

Blake Edwards Columbus State fieldingATVL is doing something today that hasn’t happened before on these pages: the hitter of the day is chosen because of his performance in two games instead of only one. The award says hitter of the day, after all. Anyway, the choice today is Covington’s Blake Edwards, from Columbus State, who had an amazing day in the doubleheader against New Market. Combined over the two games, Blake went 4-8, with 3 walks, 2 stolen bases, and a whopping 6 runs scored. He certainly did his job as the leadoff hitter in the Lumberjacks lineup! For the season so far, Blake is hitting 350/399/392 in 143 at-bats, with a sterling 11/9BB/K ratio, and 21 stolen bases.

Others of Note (hang on to your hat…)

Ryan Johnston, Staunton: 1-1, run, 2 RBIs, 2 BB, HR (game 1)
Matt O’Neil, Covington: 1-4, run, 4 RBIs, BB, HR, SB (game 1)
Grant McKown, Covington: 3-4 (game 1)
JimmyKerrigan, New Market: 2-4, 2 runs, RBI, BB, 2B (game 1)
Darian Carpenter, New Market: 2-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs, 2B, HR (game 1)
Nick Sinay, Front Royal: 3-5, run, SB
Hunter Newman, Front Royal: 1-4, run, 3 RBIs, HR, SB (Drove in all 3 runs in the game with one swing)
Tyler Orris, Waynesboro: 2-4, 2 runs, BB, 3B
Cole Gruber, Waynesboro: 2-4, 3 RBIs, SB
Travis Narraine, Waynesboro: 2-3, 2 runs, RBI, BB, HBP
Justin Harris, Charles Town: 1-2, 3 runs, 2 RBIs, 2 BB, HBP
Stephen Kerr, Charles Town: 4-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, BB, 2B
Matt Gandy, Charles Town: 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, BB
Ryan Akins, Charles Town: 2-5, run, 3 RBIs, 2 2B
Will Malbon, Woodstock: 2-4, run, 2 RBIs, BB, 3B
Esteban Puerta, Woodstock: 2-4, run, 2 RBIs, BB, HR
Thomas Smith, Harrisonburg: 2-5, run, 3 RBIs, 2B
Daniel Nichols, Harrisonburg: 2-3, run, RBI, 2 BB
Steven McLean, Harrisonburg: 3-3, run, BB
Gunnar McNeill, Staunton: 1-1, 2 BB (game 2) (hitting .414)
Elliott McCummings, Staunton: 3-3, run (game 2)
Grant McKown, Covington: 2-5, run, BB, SB (game 2)
Mikael-Ali Mogues, Covington: 2-3, 3 runs, 3 BB, 2B, 2 SB (game 2)
Elliot Gonzalez, Covington: 2-6, 2 runs, 4 RBIs, 2B, 3B, SB (game 2)
Tray Roberts, New Market: 1-4, 3 runs, 2 BB, 2B, 2 SB (game 2)
Josh Mason, New Market: 2-4, 3 runs, RBI, 2 BB, 2B, SB (game 2)
Thomas Vitaletti, New Market: 2-4, run, 2 RBIs, BB, HR (game 2)
Jake Kimble, New Market: 1-3, 2 BB, SB (game 2)

Pitcher of the Day

As mentioned above, our pitcher of the day is Front Royal’s Daniel Guido, from Oakton Community College, who was making his

(Sure hope this is Daniel Guido!)
(Sure hope this is Daniel Guido!)

debut this summer. Daniel threw 7 shutout innings against Strasburg while allowing only one hit, 1 walk, and striking out 5 to earn the win. His game score is 82. I’m very curious to see how Daniel’s addition will strengthen the Cardinals….

Others of Note

Steve Lapatin, Covington: 4 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 4 BB, 6 K’s (61)
Mike Vinson, Strasburg: 7 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 BB, 9 K’s (61)
Derek Shifflett, Staunton: 7 IP, 7 hits, 1 run, 4 BB, 3 K’s, win (58)
Austin Munn, Woodstock: 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, (1 earned), 4 BB, 4 K’s (56)
Luke Scherzer, Harrisonburg: 4 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 BB, 5 K’s, win