CHARLOTTESVILLE – Culpeper took the opening game of the best-of-3 South Division series Friday night, defeating the Charlottesville Tom Sox 4-1.
The Tom Sox took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Caden Ferraro’s (Blinn) two-out single chased home Ryan Wynn (Wofford) with what turned out to be Charlottesville’s lone run of the game.
Culpeper answered in the top of the fifth with a three-run inning. Singles by Jackson Rusiecki (North Carolina) and Blagen Pado (Longwood) put two runners on with one out. Kazuya Jordan (VMI) doubled, scoring Rusiecki to tie the score. Jon Howard’s groundout scored Pado to put the Cavs ahead to stay.
Pado added an RBI single in the sixth for the final 4-1 margin.
Rusiecki was 3-for-4 at the plate and scored twice to lead the Culpeper offense. Pado finished 2-for-6 with a run scored and one run batted in.
Travis Kaltreider (Lynchburg) turned in a strong start on the mound, going 6.2 innings and allowing just one run on five hits. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter. Levi Wilson (Thomas) pitched shutout ball for 1.2 innings and Bryce Demory (Lynchburg) struck out the final two batters in the ninth with two runners on base to earn the save.
Game 2 will be played Saturday evening at Culpeper H.S.