CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Charlottesville Tom Sox rallied from an early 4-0 deficit Thursday night to defeat Purcellville 9-5 and win 2024 Valley Baseball League Championship.
The Cannons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on Kyle Johnson’s (Duke) two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.
Purcellville added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pad the lead. The Cannons scored an unearned run in the fourth and Johnson drove in another run with a single in the fifth, giving the visitors a 4-0 cushion.
Charlottesville responded with a six-run surge in the bottom of the fifth to take a lead it would not relinquish.
Ethan Gibson (Virginia Tech) led off the fifth with a double before walks to Ryan Wynn (Wofford) and Robbie Lavey (George Washington) loaded the bases with no outs. Colby Wallace (East Carolina) singled to put the Sox on the board and a single by Caden Ferraro (Blinn) cut the margin to 4-2. Cooper Blauser (Jacksonville State) was hit by a pitch to make it 4-3 and Wallace scored on a passed ball to tie the score. Dean Mihos (Coastal Carolina) walked to reload the bases and Sam Mummau was hit by a pitch, forcing home the go-ahead run. Wynn drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk, giving Charlottesville a 6-4 lead.
Another run in the bottom of the sixth inning pushed the Tom Sox lead to 7-4, but the Cannons scored in the eighth on Kaleb Freeman’s (Georgia State) run-scoring single, cutting their deficit to 7-5.
The Tom Sox added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth when Blauser belted a two-run homer to make it 9-5.
Daniel Powell (Kennesaw State) retired the Cannons in order in the ninth, striking out all three batters to finish off the 9-5 victory.
Gibson, Wynn, Wallace, Ferraro and Nick Parham (East Carolina) each produced two hits, accounting for 10 of Charlottesville’s 12 hits.
Relievers Ryan Grzesiak (Florida Southwestern), Ferraro and Powell combined to limit the Cannons to one run over the 3.1 innings.