EXPRESS NO-HIT TOM SOX, CAPTURE 4TH VALLEY LEAGUE TITLE

The Strasburg Express have been around for 14 seasons, played for 7 league championships, have won 4, but never clinched a title at home...until tonight. In a remarkable display of resiliency, Strasburg threw a combined no-hitter en route to a 5-2 championship-clinching victory over the Charlottesville Tom Sox.

 

John Gray (Wofford) delivered a herculean effort Wednesday night in front of a packed house at First Bank Park. A converted reliever, Gray threw 7 innings of perfect baseball and didn't allow a single base runner until the 8th inning. Throwing on 4 days rest, Gray struck out 7 and flawlessly worked through the Tom Sox lineup.

 

Evan Garcia (South Florida State) took the reins in the 8th and worked through 2 no-hit innings of his own, striking out 4 and earning the series-clinching save.

 

The Strasburg offense got rolling in the bottom of the 1st inning via a 2-run double from Jake McCarter (High Point). McCarter would finish 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.

 

But the biggest blast of the night came via Landon Beaver (UAB), crushing an opposite field 3-run home run in the bottom of the 7th to put Strasburg up for good.

 

Brady Boles (Panola College) would finish 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 walks. While the plate appearances might not technically qualify him, we're going to acknowledge Boles with the 2nd highest batting average in Express history. For the summer he finished with a .413 average behind only 2011 Valley League MVP Brad Zebedis (Presbyterian College) who led the league with a .420 average.

 

Eddie Castillo (New Orleans) would score twice while Jay Douglas (Western Kentucky) and Brooks Henderson (UMBC) would each walk twice. Douglas also swiped his 19th base of the summer.

 

Our coaches and players were of top quality from start to finish.

 

Strasburg dealt with a ton of adversity this summer but continually rose to the occasion. Perhaps best exemplifying this, including the playoffs, the Express went 17-2 during the month of July. When some teams faded, our young men elevated.