Front Royal Cardinals: Weekend Wrapup

The Cardinals won big Friday night at home, beating the Winchester Royals 17-9 in front of a supportive crowd at Bing Crosby Stadium. The Cardinals began the attack early, and they scored five runs by the end of the third inning. The Royals answered with plenty of offense of their own, and by the middle of the seventh inning, it was a tight, 9-11 game. Fortunately for the Cardinals, a combination of unusual defensive substitutions, and the combined effort of pitchers Trey Fields, Kyle Choate and Andrew Hoguet, forced the Royals to leave three runners on base and preserved the Front Royal lead. The Cardinals scored six more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, fueled by Derek Orndorff’s two-run homerun. Neither team was able to score in the final two innings of the game, and the Cardinals celebrated a 17-9 victory.

Saturday night the Cardinals traveled to Purcellville to face the Cannons. After jumping put to an early lead, the Cardinals fell behind 3-2 in the third inning. Purcellville gained and maintained a three-run lead in the fourth, until the Cardinals evened things up in the eighth inning. The Cardinals scored three runs on three hits and tied the game. Unable to gain a runner in the top of the ninth, the game went into the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 5 runs each. The Cannons were able to score a single run on two hits, and walked off the Cardinals 6-5.

In a final weekend game on Sunday night in Charlottesville, while the rain fell in Front Royal the Tom Sox stormed the Cardinals for an important road loss. Despite nine hits in the game, the Cardinals left 13 runners on base and were only able to push across 4 runs. The TomSox pushed across nine runs on 11 hits, beating the Cardinals with a final score of 9-4.

The Cardinals have two home games remaining, on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Tuesday’s game against the Purcellville Cannons at Bing Crosby Stadium is sponsored by Front Royal Credit Union. Game time is 7:00 pm.