The Charlottesville Tom Sox came from behind to earn their first victory in team history Thursday night, coming from behind to defeat the visiting New Market Rebels 7-5 at C-Ville Weekly Ballpark at Charlottesville High School.
The Tom Sox used a four-run fifth inning after squandering an early lead to take a 6-5 advantage, aided by a few Rebels errors.
Before that, the Tom Sox jumped out to a quick early lead in the bottom of the first when Ryan Hall’s infield single sent home leadoff man Billy Cooke, who had reached on a single up the middle. Following a bloop single from Seth Lancaster, a fielder’s choice, and a flyout from Caleb Robinson, Hall grounded a slow roller to third that he beat out.
Charlottesville extended the lead to 2-0 in the second, kickstarted by Chris Clayton’s leadoff single up the middle. Following a sacrifice bunt by Brad McKay, Cole Murphy delivered a triple to right-center to plate Clayton.
New Market wasted little time tying the game on Lorenzo Wright’s two-run, two-out double in the top of the third, scoring Kevin Woodall and Storm Edwards. In the fourth, the Rebels forged ahead on a double steal when Clayton overthrew the ball into center field, allowing P.J. DeMeo to come home on the error. Nate Blanchard followed with a double to left to score Zack Callahan and make it 4-2.
The Rebels struck again in the fifth on Callahan’s RBI single to right on the first pitch thrown by Tom Sox reliever Drew Scott. Scott was the third Charlottesville pitcher to take the mound following starter Jake McBrearty, who went 3.1 innings, and Zach Cook, who threw 1.2 innings.
“I think Drew Scott coming out there, and that was the time that things have been starting to snowball on us,” Tom Sox manager Mike Goldberg said. “Drew just came out, he executed his pitches, he gave us a chance.”
A pair of New Market errors allowed the Sox to take the lead in the bottom half of the decisive fifth. The Sox loaded the bases, then an error on Rebels shortstop Roberto Rivera allowed one run to score. Hall followed with a single to left, plating one run, and on the ensuing throw home, Lancaster’s slide knocked the ball out of the glove of Rebels catcher Conner Gunn, tying the game. Gunn attempted to throw out Davis at third, but his throw sailed into left field and Davis scored. Hall attempted to score as well, but was thrown out at the plate by Callahan.
“I was just trying to fight with two outs to get things going, and luckily it fell through,” Hall said. “I kind of overran, one play they made a bad throw, and that got our offense going.”
The Tom Sox added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Rivera made his second error of the game, booting a grounder hit by Davis with Lancaster at third. From there, the Sox defense took over, with Scott and Josh Sharik combining to hold the Rebels hitless over the final 4.1 innings. Scott got the win, allowing one hit in 2.1 innings while striking out three and walking one. Sharik retired all six New Market batters he faced over the final two frames.
“Our bullpen’s been great all season, although results haven’t been there till now,” Scott said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in the pen and a lot of good starters too, so I think pitching is something we’ll be really good with the rest of the season.”
The Tom Sox host Staunton tomorrow at 7 p.m.
