Good morning, everyone! Four games were played last night. We’ll take a brief look at those, and I’m adding a playoffs section to the daily writeup- see below! And, of course, today is the last day of the draft, so we’ll post an update of all former and current VBLers drafted early this evening.

Results

Hitter of the Day

The HOD is Charlottesville’s Nicolas Ericsson, from VCU, who went 3-3, with three runs scored and two walks- five total times on base. The senior is 8-28 this summer, with a slashline of .286/.487/.286.

Others of Note

  • Justin Wachs, Woodstock: 1-2, two walks
  • Tiger Borom, New Market: 2-3, walk
  • TJ Clarkson, Waynesboro: 1-3, run, two RBIs, walk, HBP
  • Matt Cedarburg, Waynesboro: 2-2, two runs, HBP, walk, stolen base
  • Christian Martin, Charlottesville: 3-5, three runs, two RBIs, walk, two stolen bases (Is Martin going to be 2023’s Jack Hurley?)
  • Satchell Norman, Charlottesville: 1-3, run, RBI, two walks, stolen base
  • Carter Cunningham, Charlottesville: 2-4, run, three RBIs, HBP
  • Sam Schner, Harrisonburg: 2-4, run, RBI, walk, double
  • Mitch Farris, Harrisonburg: 2-5, run, two RBIs, two doubles

Pitcher of the Day

Our POD, for the third time this summer, is Waynesboro’s Daniel Batcher. From Florida Gulf Coast, Batcher shut down Staunton last night, firing five shutout innings while allowing two hits, one walk, and striking out nine. He earned the win and a game scorer of 69 (dude). For the summer, he’s 2-1, 5.12, with 29 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings.

Others of Note

  • Jabbari Smith, Purcellville: 3 1/3 innings, two hits, no runs, no walks, four K’s
  • Tyler Dean, Strasburg: Four innings, two hits, one run, three walks, four K’s
  • Luke Lageman, Woodstock: Two innings, two hits, no runs, two walks, two K’s, win
  • Zach Locke, Waynesboro: Two innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, three K’s
  • Daulton Montagna, Waynesboro: Two perfect innings, three K’s
  • Ty Barker, Staunton: Two innings, one hit, no runs, no walks, three K’s
  • Tyler McLoughlin, Charlottesville: Two innings, one hit, one unearned run, two walks, three K’s, save

Tonight’s Games

  • Winchester (Brodeur, Lyman) at Woodstock (Hoover, Wilkinson), 4 PM doubleheader
  • Charlottesville (Yesavage, Lunsford-Shenkman) at Strasburg (Kelley, Wakeman), 5 PM doubleheader
  • Harrisonburg (Farris) at Waynesboro (Toro), 7 PM
  • Staunton (Payne) at Covington (Wall), 7 PM
  • Purcellville (Reid) at New Market (Deaton), 7:30 PM

Playoff Races

Even though we are still scheduled to end the regular season on Sunday the 24th (with playoffs starting immediately on the 25th), there is a jumble of games to be played and, for one game, to even be scheduled at this point.

North

  1. Woodstock: 21-14, seven games remaining, will clinch a playoff spot with one win or one loss by both Winchester and Purcellville
  2. Strasburg: 20-15, seven games remaining, two games ahead of New Market, one game behind Woodstock. Very close to clinching a playoff spot.
  3. New Market: 19-18, five games remaining, one game behind Strasburg for spot #2, 4.5 ahead of Winchester and Purcellville. Also pretty close to clinching a playoff spot.
  4. Winchester and Purcellville: both 13-21, with eight games remaining. Both are a game and half ahead of Front Royal, and 4.5 behind New Market. These teams also have a game between them that was “suspicious packaged” out (hah), and needs to be rescheduled.
  5. Front Royal: 13-24, five games left, a game and a half behind Win and Pur. Can’t get to a top three spot, but can still grab playoff spot #4.

South

  1. Waynesboro: 24-13, five games left. Huge game tonight vs Harrisonburg. Generals have clinched a top three spot for the playoffs.
  2. Harrisonburg: 22-12, eight games left, half a game behind Waynesboro, 2.5 ahead of Charlottesville. Turks have clinched a playoff spot, and will make it a top three spot with one win OR one Covington loss.
  3. Charlottesville: 19-14, nine games left, 2.5 behind the Turks, five ahead of Covington. Has not clinch anything yet.
  4. Covington: 15-20, seven games left, five behind Cville, one ahead of Staunton (two behind in loss column). Hosting Staunton tonight- a huge game for the chase for the last playoff spot.
  5. Staunton: 15-22, five games left. One behind Covington, and playing tonight. Obviously still in play for a playoff spot.

That’ll do it for now. Check back late afternoon for a possible draft update!