6/14/2006 – Daily News Record

Daily News Record Written By Joe Lemire Newcomers Help Harrisonburg Win Fourth Straight If you made your Turks debut Tuesday night, you had a dandy of a game. Matt Baugh, Josh Dew and Clint Robinson all had standout performances in their first outings Tuesday night, leading Harrisonburg to its fourth straight win with an 8-1 victory over Staunton in a Valley League baseball game. "Wow, that’s big," Turks manager Bob Wease said. "I said all along that when we got our players in here, we were going to be pretty good." Dew, who arrived from Alabama on Sunday night, showed no ill effects from his long drive. In his first at-bat in the first inning, he hit an opposite field three-run home run on an outside 2-2 breaking pitch. "He hung a curveball, and I just went with it," said Dew, a rising senior at Troy University. "Usually when I get two strikes, I don’t really look for a pitch – I just kind of react." A road trip from Alabama, however, paled in comparison to the travel woes of Turks starting pitcher Matt Baugh. The Antioch, Calif., native took a red-eye flight from Oakland to New York City on Saturday night before boarding a connecting flight to Richmond. Baugh was sharp despite the distance traveled and jet lag endured, tossing six innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts. "Everything was working," the University of Arizona southpaw said. "I was spotting my fastball in and out. The changeup was working, and I was just keeping everything down – that was pretty much the key." After Baugh exited, Harrisonburg (4-6) turned toward reliever Branon Johnson, who struck out six batters in six innings of hitless relief to earn the save. The Braves (4-6) managed just three balls hit into the outfield – two fly outs and a third-inning RBI single from second baseman Chad Rice – against the Turks’ pitchers. "The [reliever] absolutely overpowered us, and the starter nibbled a little bit and made good pitches in good situations," Staunton manager Lance Mauck said. "We’re a pretty good hitting team, and they shut us down pretty good." Robinson, who also played for Harrisonburg last year, added two hits and an RBI, and Dew added a fourth RBI with a broken-bat single up the middle in the fifth off Staunton starter Mike Bowman. "It was a good pitch," Dew said. "He had thrown two sliders before that and got strikes on them, so I was just trying to make contact and put it in play. I got it off the end of the bat, and it snapped on me. [My teammates] all thought it was funny." Dew also excelled in the field despite being tested early and often. A normal first baseman, he played third Tuesday night, and the Braves laid down three bunts in his direction – two he fielded cleanly for outs and the third was a close play at first, which went for one of Staunton’s two hits. As well as Dew hit and played in the field, Wease offered this warning to his Valley opponents: "Wait ’til he pitches." Staunton 001 000 000 – 1 2 2 Harrisonburg 300 010 31x – 8 8 2 Bowman, Kebodeaux (7), Thorne (8) and Englehardt; Baugh, Johnson (7) and Denker. W – Baugh (1-0). L – Bowman (0-1). S – Johnson (1). HR – Dew (1).