Senior baseball team falls in state tourney

Staff Report
Published: July 19, 2008

The Culpeper Little League Senior All-Star team ran into trouble at the state tournament in Stephens City this weekend.

The Culpeper team was eliminated from the tournament after a 14-5 loss to district 9 team from Dumfries/Triangle/Quantico.

Lee Rossi led the Blue Devils at the plate with two hits and a pair of runs scored. Aaron Raiford added two singles, an RBI and a run scored. Matt Case was 1 for 4. Nolan Jenkins doubled and drove in a run.

Jenkins started on the mound for Culpeper, striking out three in 4 2/3 innings. Josh Gardiner and Matt Franklin closed out the game.

On Friday, the Culpeper squad took a tough-luck loss against Mechanicsville, falling 16-15.

The Culpeper offense was explosive, collecting 14 hits to Mechanicsville’s 11.

But Mechanicsville took advantage of four Culpeper errors and drew 15 walks to pull out the win.

Rossi led Culpeper at the plate, finishing 4 for 5 with a double, three RBI and a run scored. Gardiner added three hits, including two doubles, and drove in four runs.

Jonathan Whorton was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI, and Jenkins added a pair of doubles. Raiford drew three walks.

Culpeper rallied to tie the game at 15 in the top of the seventh when David Allen Weaver blasted two-out, two-run double, but Mechanicsville pushed the winning run across in the bottom half of the inning.