Harrisonburg Turks

Member of the Valley Baseball League and NACSB.

  • 1955 VBL Champions
  • 1958 VBL Champions
  • 1959 VBL Champions
  • 1962 VBL Champions
  • 1964 VBL Champions
  • 1969 VBL Champions
  • 1970 VBL Champions
  • 1971 VBL Champions
  • 1977 VBL Champions
  • 1991 VBL Champions
  • 2000 VBL Champions
  • 2012 VBL Champions
  • 2023 VBL Champions

Turks Rally For Win

Turks News / By /

7/8/04 – Daily News Record

By AARON GRAY Daily News-Record The Turks’ slumbering bats woke up just in the nick of time. After scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings, shortstop Gered Mochizuki’s RBI-single in the tenth gave Harrisonburg a 3-2 victory over New Market in front of 400 fans at Memorial Stadium Wednesday. Catcher Matt Sluder took the first pitch from reliever Mike Colacchio (North Alabama) to right field for a base hit in the tenth. Sluder, a James Madison sophomore, reached second on a passed ball and then moved to third on a fielder’s choice by left fielder Jeff Halbert (Rollins) which set up Mochizuki’s game-winning shot. "You got to love these situations," said Mochizuki, who went 2-for-4 in the game. "Our team was down for a while there but we picked ourselves up and that’s what a good ball club does." The first eight innings looked like a repeat performance from the night before when the Turks no-hit Waynesboro but still lost 3-1. Pitcher Tim Norton (Connecticut) stifled Harrisonburg hitters early on going 6 1/3 innings and only gave up four hits. "Our pitchers did a good job holding an offensively explosive team like the Turks," said Rebels assistant coach Blaine Brown. "We just couldn’t hang on." Left fielder Ben Crowell (UNC-Pembroke) hit an RBI-single in the second inning for the Rebels (12-15) and shortstop Andy Hernandez (Indian River CC) scored in the fifth when Turks pitcher Tim Gudex (Iowa) walked four consecutive batters. The Turks (17-10), in the midst of a slump, hadn’t scored an earned run in 20 innings heading into the ninth. Halbert and center fielder Reggie Watson (Indiana) started the rally with consecutive base hits. Second baseman Corby Heckman (Indiana) hit a blooper into shallow right field to score Halbert. From there, first baseman Joe Kemp (Indiana) hit a single to left field that scored Watson to knot the game at 2-2. The game marked the Turks’ ninth win in their last 11 games and was their first extra-innings victory of the season. New Market 001 010 000 0 – 2 4 4 Harrisonburg 000 000 002 1 – 3 11 1 Gudex, Weber (7) and Sluder; Norton, Jacobs (7), Keller (9), Colacchio (10) and Bernstine. W – Weber (2-2); L – Colacchio (1-2).