Before officially opening their season last Friday, the Charles Town Cannons of the Valley Baseball League released five players from their original roster. Given their release were Ryan Pansch (Shepherd), Seth Powers, Josh Markel, Connor Gorman and Grant Wilcoxon.

On Friday, May 30, Charles Town defeated the Winchester Royals, 6-4, at Sager Field on the Jefferson High campus to open the 2014 season. Trevor Otey was the winning pitcher with Jacob Anthony getting credit for a save. Ryan Akins, Justin Harris and Gred Brodzinski all had two hits for the winning Cannons.

The next night at Sager Field, Front Royal outscored the Cannons, 12-7, even though Matt Gandy went 3-for-4 for Charles Town. Jared Jordan was the starting and losing pitcher for the Cannons.

On Sunday, June 1, it was the Woodstock River Bandits defeating the Cannons, 3-1, with three unearned runs in the fourth inning. Karl Craigie was the tough-luck loser for Charles Town. Zach Zyburt went 3-for-4 for the Cannons.

Charles Town’s 1-2 record had it two games behind Front Royal (3-0) and 1.5 games behind Waynesboro (2-0) in the early going of the scheduled 44-game season.

The Cannons play their home games at Sager Field and every home game on the original schedule is slated to start at 7 p.m.

The 11-team league features players from colleges around the country. Each player has remaining collegiate eligibility.

Besides Winchester, Front Royal, Woodstock, Waynesboro and Charles Town the other six Virginia-based teams in the league are Aldie, Strasburg, New Market, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Covington.