The Valley Baseball League dropped a 12-10 contest Monday afternoon to the New York Collegiate Baseball League at the NACSB Prospect Game at Liberty University.
The VBL got off to a quick start with two runs in the first inning. Culpeper’s Connor Maryniak started the offense with a one-out single before Harrisonburg’s Chris Katz and Covington’s Jackson Toberman ripped back-to-back run-scoring doubles to make it 2-0.
New York made it 2-1 in the bottom the second, but Toberman produced a run-scoring single in the third for a 3-1 VBL lead.
The Valley stretched its lead with three more runs in the fourth. Culpeper’s Jon Howard led off with a double to the gap in left center and scored on a New York throwing error, making the score 4-1. Staunton’s Jake D’Altrui stole home on the back end of a double steal before Harrisonburg’s Matt Delgado plated a run with a groundout, putting the VBL up 6-1.
New York closed the gap to 6-5 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the VBL got two runs back in the top of the fifth to lead by three runs. The Valley was unable to hold the lead and dropped the 12-10 decision.
Toberman was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Katz was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the offense.
Several Valley pitchers topped out above the 90 mph mark, led by Charlottesville’s Daniel Powell and Ryan Grzesiac and Harrisonburg’s Victor Diaz who each topped out at 94 mph. Culpeper’s Broc Eddy and Harrisonburg’s Carson Morton each worked a 1-2-3 inning.