Generals breeze past Haymarket

By Cody Clifton Correspondent
Published: July 22, 2008

After dropping a 14-5 decision in the previous game against New Market, Waynesboro turned the tides on the other “market” in the Valley League, defeating Haymarket 12-2 Tuesday night at the KC.
The Senators took the early lead against Generals starter Adam Liberatore when Wayne Miller reached first on an er-ror by Gabriel Saade. After a walk to Chris Haynes, cleanup man Scott Krieger drove in Miller from second, quieting the fans in the stands early.
The Generals took the lead in the second inning, a lead that would last the entire game.
Evan Webb doubled to drive in Ryan Adams who walked to lead off the inning. Greg Meleski’s double plated Webb.
“I was really happy with the way we swung the bat tonight,” Waynesboro coach Lawrence Nesselrodt said. “We had opportunities that we didn’t cash in on, but bouncing back again from a loss is what this team has done all year long.”
The real fireworks occurred in the fourth inning, when the Generals plated five of their own, with the biggest bang coming from Brandon Sizemore. Sizemore was starting at designated hitter, his first start since injuring his heel.
Grant Buckner, Meleski and Derek Hamblen reached on a single, walk, and error respectively. A walk to Mark Dvo-roznak scored the first run and a wild pitch with Saade at the plate scored another.
Sizemore stepped in with two on and chants of “B-Size” raining down from the stands. On a 2-2 pitch, Sizemore launched a ball over the trees in left-center field for a three-run shot, causing an SUV to stop to claim a surprising Rt. 250 souvenir.
“I thought we had a good lineup tonight, best lineup we have put together for a while,” Nesselrodt said. “But having Sizemore at DH is a big bonus.”
Haymarket attempted several rallies throughout the final innings of the game, stranding seven runners from the sixth inning on.
With the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, Nesselrodt made the call to the bullpen, bringing in Evan DePotter to face Doc Neiman.
DePotter needed only three pitched as Neiman shot a groundball up the third base line, snared by Evan Webb who tagged the bag and threw to first for a double play.
“It’s very pivotal that [DePotter] came in and induced a groundball,” Nesselrodt added. “Webb made a great play and the ball stayed down on him, just to get the first and then showed a strong arm to turn the double play.”
Sizemore did the damage again in the seventh inning, lacing a double into the left-center field gap registering his fourth and fifth RBI of the game.
Waynesboro attempts to defend the home turf again tonight at 7:30 as the Generals take on Staunton. A win by the Generals will lock up the Southern Division title with four more games to play.