6/19/2007 – Northern Virginia Daily

Valley League, Harrisonburg 5, Front Royal 1 Written By Robert Edmonds Northern Virginia Daily FRONT ROYAL — The Harrisonburg Turks traveled to Front Royal on Monday night to face the Cardinals for the second time in three nights. After dropping the lead in the ninth inning on Saturday against the Turks and eventually losing in extra innings, the Cardinals hoped to have better luck as they looked to record a victory and continue an impressive run. But defensive mistakes — two errors and a wild pitch in the seventh inning — cost the Cardinals in a 5-1 loss, squandering a strong performance early by starting pitcher Brian Streilein. "Tonight was a great ballgame," Harrisonburg manager Bob Wease said. "Front Royal has a good baseball team and they have played us tough the last two nights. We just got some breaks and were able to come out as the winner just like the other night. We have to consider ourselves lucky to win, but that’s how it goes in baseball sometimes." Both Streilein and Harrisonburg’s Tim Wheeler moved quickly through the opposing lineups early. When the Turks got on the board early in the third the Cardinals wasted no time tying the game, scoring in the bottom half of the inning. With a runner on second, an error by Cardinals first baseman Bennett Davis on a line shot from Ryan Wood allowed the game’s first run to score. The Cardinals then retaliated, scoring on a Wood error in the bottom of the inning. When the Turks shortstop misplayed the ball, the Cardinals runner at second scored to tie the game. Following the mistake, a ground out finished the inning. Both pitchers picked up where they left off, keeping the bats silent until Harrisonburg used the Cardinals mistakes to their advantage in the seventh inning. Following a pair of infield singles to open the inning, Mike Pericht stole third base, giving Harrisonburg runners at the corners with no outs. Then the wild pitch from Streilein broke the tie as the Turks went up 2-1. Two batters later, with runners again on first and third, Wood sent a routine fly ball to centerfield. After the catch, Cardinals centerfielder Danny Lopez fired the ball home, but sent it sailing over the catcher’s head, giving the Turks some breathing room. "When you play a team like Harrisonburg — who is in first place — you can’t afford to make mistakes like we did tonight, but that’s baseball," Cardinals assistant coach Jeremy Brotherton said. "There’s not much said for moral victories, but this shows we can compete with the league leaders. We won last night against second-place Waynesboro and we have played Harrisonburg well the last two times facing them," Brotherton said. "Once we get everything into place, and we can get our bats going, we should be able to pick up these close games with some wins."