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

Senators Elude Turks

6/21/2006 – Daily News Record

Daily News Record Written By Marcus Helton Haymarket beat Harrisonburg 4-2 in the VBL on Tuesday. Just as quickly as it had come, the momentum was gone. The Harrisonburg Turks came into the bottom of the ninth inning against Haymarket trailing 4-2, but promptly loaded the bases with no outs against tiring Senators pitcher Josh Judy. They would get no closer, though. Reliever John Walker promptly induced Harrisonburg’s Kyle Spraker into a 1-2-3 double play to deflate the rally, and Haymarket shortstop Jeff Garidel followed up with a falling grab in the outfield for the final out as the Senators held on for a 4-2 victory Tuesday at Memorial Stadium. "You can never plan for something like that to happen," Turks second baseman Josh Richardson said of Walker’s play. "It’s really tough when it happens; it’s bad luck you know? That’s the way baseball is: it’s up and down. You saw how happy everyone was when the bases were loaded, and how down everyone was once that happened, but it’s life, it’s baseball, and that’s the way it goes sometimes." The Senators (9-7) were the ones on their heels early, as the Turks (8-8) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Haymarket mounted a two-out rally in the third, scoring three runs off Harrisonburg reliever Kris VanZant to go on top 3-2. They went up 4-2 on Temple second baseman Mike Kelch’s RBI- double in the fifth inning. "We got the hits when we needed them," Haymarket manager Mark Keagle said. "We had men in scoring position and we got hot in a couple innings and were able to scratch across some runs. We didn’t get discouraged by falling down early, we just kept battling." Judy, a sophomore from Indiana Tech, got the win after allowing two earned runs on 10 hits. He struck out two and walked one. "I finally found a changeup," he said with a laugh. "Hitting spots and letting the catcher call a good game back there, that’s what worked throughout the whole eight innings. In the ninth, they got the two ground balls – the little bleeders in between positions and I just gave that team more momentum and it all just went downhill from there. J. Walker came in and saved me; that was awesome by him to get that double play." Turks manager Bob Wease said his team simply came out flat in the first seven innings – waiting too late to get its offense going – and Richardson agreed. "I really think we just kind of lacked intensity at the beginning," Richardson said. Haymarket 003 010 000 — 4 7 3 Harrisonburg 020 000 000 — 2 10 1 Judy, Walker and Bautista. Ochs, VanZant and Harrigan. W – Judy (1-1). L – VanZant (1-1). S – Walker (2).