COVINGTON, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW): The Tom Sox, upon resuming Baseball following a couple days rest due to the heat, have continued the turnaround of their season.  Entering play last night in Covington, Randy Tomlin’s men had won four of their last five games.   

On a hot night against the Lumberjacks, a dramatic team effort made it five of the last six with a 6-5 victory on the road.  Their secret weapon to win the game, however, will bring a smile to the hearts of millennials who grew up watching Nickelodeon in the 1990s and 2000s.  

The offense had already shown up by the time the game reached the ninth inning.  Charlottesville’s first three hitters, Kyle Langley, Preston Gamster, and James Nunnalee, all had two hits in the game.  Gamster had two extra base hits, and Nunnalee notched a pair of RBIs on two singles.    The Sox managed six unanswered runs in the middle innings to take a commanding lead. 

That was enough to support the pitching staff, JT Gibson started strong with a five-strikeout performance in 4 and 1/3 innings.  McCall Biemiller and Bradley Link took them through the middle innings before turning to Auburn reliever Trevor Booton to wrap up the game.  Booton looked strong to start his night, but the Lumberjacks started to chip away at him with methodical, strong hitting.  When looked up, the home team had put up four runs to turn it into a two-run game, 6-3.   

Davidson closer Jason Ban entered the game in a tight spot, inheriting runners from Booton, walking in a run and allowing one more on a sac fly.  With tempers starting to flare and composure starting to go, Preston Gamster took matters into his own hands.   

The TCU Shortstop decided to settle his mind…through song.   He struck up the first few notes of the Campfire Song, originally sung by Spongebob Squarepants on Stephen Hillenburg’s hit Nick TV show. The patter-song that features lyrics that spell out (C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E -S-O-N-G-SONG) seemed to do the trick to help him focus up, and work for his pitcher as well.  Ban locked in to strike out the final batter of the game to earn the save and send the Sox into second place in the Valley League Southern Division. 

Charlottesville will hit the road for a battle with the Woodstock River Bandits tonight at 7:00pm.  The Sox, with last night’s win, moved to 8-10 on the year.