The Purcellville Cannons (1-1) took the 35-minute drive to Winchester to face off against the Winchester Royals (1-1) on Tuesday night. Cannon's starting pitcher, Micheal Grupe (Virginia Tech University), struggled to throw strikes and walked five batters. He only recorded one out in the bottom of the 1st. Manager Brett Fuller brought in Dane Black (NOVA Southern U) to finish the inning. Down 5-0 going into the 2nd inning, the Cannons batters had to get going at the plate. Devin Goins (St. Mary's University) tallied the first hit of the day for the Cannons in the 2nd. Unfortunately, the base hit did not amount to much as the Cannons struck out back-to-back times to end the inning. Ron Cole (Kentucky University) began the 2nd and settled things down for the Cannons. Cole pitched two innings of shutout baseball with two strikeouts. Aaron Ujimori (University of Hawaii) got the Cannons on the scoreboard in the 5th with an RBI single. Winchester added onto their lead in the bottom half of the fifth with two runs of their own. Once the Royals got off to a great start in the first, there was no looking back. In three straight innings, Purcellville scored at least one run. The Cannons started a rally in the 9th inning.

Bases were loaded and the score was 8-4 Royals.  The home plate umpire called a lightning delay. About halfway through the lighting delay, Winchester Royals players began to put tarps over the pitcher's mound and home plate. It seemed unnecessary; well, they knew something we all in the media did not know. A rainstorm was about to hit the Winchester area. About 10 minutes later, the umpires decided to suspend the game. It's currently TBA if they will begin playing this game at its stopping point or give Winchester the win 8-4. The Purcellville Cannons return to action tomorrow night at Fireman's Field for a 7:00 PM start against the Strasburg Express.  

Written by Robert Marcello, Cannons Broadcast Intern