CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Charlottesville Tom Sox advanced to the Valley Baseball League Championship Series with a 19-2 victory Sunday evening over Culpeper to win the South Division Series two games to one.
The Tom Sox will face the Purcellville Cannons for the VBL title in a best-of-3 series beginning Monday evening at Charlottesville High School.
Culpeper took the lead in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Kazuya Jordan, but the Tom Sox answered with five runs in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back. Ryan Wynn (Wofford) and Robbie Lavey (George Washington) produced run-scoring hits in the second for the Tom Sox.
The home team put the game away with seven runs in the third and five more in the fourth.
In the third, Sam Mummau (Florida) drove in the first two runs of the inning with a double, making the score 7-1. Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) followed with a two-run double to pust the margin to 9-1. Colby Wallace (East Carolina) capped the seven-run outburst with a three-run homer, making the score 12-1.
Caden Ferraro (Blinn) drove in two runs in the fifth with a single and Cooper Blauser (Jacksonville State) chased home two more runs with a double.
Wallace paced the Tom Sox offense with four RBIs. Ferraro and Mummau each finished 2-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and two RBIs. Blauser, Lavey and Gibson each drove in a pair of runs.
Tyler Shulman (Harvard) was 2-for-2 for the Cavs and Jordan had the team’s lone RBI.
Thomas Whelan (Davidson) allowed one earned run on five hits in four innings to get the victory. Ayden Alexander (George Washington finished up with three scoreless innings to earn the save. He allowed one hit, struck out four and walked two.