CHARLOTTESVILLE – Sam Mummau (Florida) belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning Monday evening, giving Charlottesville a 7-5 come-from-behind, walk-off victory over the Purcellville Cannons in Game 1 of the Valley Baseball League Championship Series.
Powered by a two-run homer by Kyle Johnson (Duke) in the fifth inning, Purcellville carried a 4-3 lead into the eighth. With two outs in the top of the eighth, Shintaro Inoue (Kansas State) the VBL’s RBI leader, singled to left, scoring Christopher Marte (Florida Memorial) to put the Cannons up 5-3.
The Tom Sox answered in the bottom half of the inning. Walks to Nick Parham (East Carolina) and Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) plus a bloop single by Moomau loaded the bases with one out. Purcellville reliever Mason Hoheisel fanned Ryan Wynn (Wofford) for the second out of the inning, but Robbie Lavey (George Washington) delivered a clutch two-run single to left, tying the score at 5-5.
The Cannons failed to score in the top of 10th and Mummau ended the game in the bottom of the inning with a homer down the left field line.
Mummau finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Lavey added two RBIs while Cooper Blauser (Jacksonville State) and Parham each drove in a run.
Ryan Grzesiak (Florida Southwestern) pitched the 10th to take the win on the mound. He walked one and struck out one.
Jake Slade (Virginia Tech) went 2-for-3 and scored a run while Johnson finished 2-for-6 with a run scored and two RBIs.
The series moves to Purcellville for Game 2 on Tuesday.