Call it a case of home-field advantage but the result stay the same: a win's a win.

The Virginia Generals travel youth program captured two tournament titles earlier this month in the Old Dominion Baseball League at the 8U and 13U levels while placing second at 12U.

While the Generals are one of the cornerstones of the league, the local competition runs high within it given the presence of the traditional powerhouse Gainesville Cannons among several other travel programs.

Neither of the Generals' teams that won posted perfect regular season marks. However, strong playoff performances in which the two teams went a combined 10-1 ultimately mattered the most when it came to bringing home the hardware.

"It's one step closer to our goal, which is being national champions," said 8U head coach Paul Basler said about winning the league title.

Basler took time out this week to recall his team's march to the playoffs. He mentioned that the team formed formed in August after he hand-selected players following tryouts in order to re-establish a team that did not exist the previous year.

After being together for about six weeks, the season began and the youngsters posted an 8-2 record by the time the post-season rolled around.

"(We) only lost by 1 run each of those games," said Basler.

The Generals emerged from pool play in the playoffs with a 2-0 record, having given up only four runs total. That granted the boys a No. 1 seed and a first round bye in the three-round, single-elimination tournament that followed.

Following a family feud of sorts in the opening round between two Gainesville Cannons teams, the Cannons Black squad ended up winning the right to take on the Generals in the tournament semi-finals. A slugfest ensued as the Cannons put five runs up on the board in the top of the first inning, letting Basler and company know they were in for a real fight.

"Keep it close and let your bats win it in the end," said Basler of his team's strategy.

The Generals answered with five runs of their own, turning the game into a seesaw affair that led to the Cannons taking a 11-9 lead in the fifth inning. That's when Austin Stroud and Grant Hartman came around on a Luke Basler RBI double to tie the game, only for Liam Gannon and Stroud to smack in the go-ahead runs with RBIs of their own.

Each team tacked on an extra three runs in the final two innings, but when the dust settled, the Generals had a 16-14 win, propelling the team into the finals against the only team that beat them all season: the Loudoun South Eagles.

In a reversal of play, pitchers from both teams stepped up and limited each other to less than a quarter of the combined 30 runs scored in the Generals' semi-final outing. Gannon drove in the younger Basler with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning to put the team from western Prince William County on the board first.

A two-bagger to left field from David Rogers brought around shortstop Evan Updyke and centerfielder Kevin Warunek the next inning to give the Generals a 3-0 lead, which Rogers expanded in the fifth with another RBI single to left field that scored Warunek.

Warunek also got to play Hero of the Day as he came in to close the game out on the mound following a scoreless five innings pitched by Basler and Hartman. With runners on first and second and nobody out, the Generals up 4-0, Warunek "threw the ball hard and he threw it hard for strikes," said the coach.

He earned two outs but put one man on too before giving up a bases-clearing double that cut the Generals lead to 4-3. A passed ball later, the tying run stood at third base.

At that point, Warunek dug in a little bit deeper and forced a grounder between first and second base. Second baseman CJ Pavlick then dove to his left to make the stab, regrouped, and tossed the ball over to first baseman Basler to put the game away.

"Everyone stormed the center," said Coach Basler, referring to the victory as "our version of winning Game 7" of the MLB World Series.

"All the kids wanted was that 5-foot high trophy," he said.