7/13/2007 – Daily News Record

Taylor’s Single Starts Rally, Harrisonburg Wins 6-2 Written By Matthew Stoss Daily News Record HARRISONBURG – Robert Taylor stood on first base shaking the bat-given sting from his right hand. But the Harrisonburg Turks right fielder was OK with the painful quivering inside his fingers. "Yeah, definitely," the junior from Arkansas-Little Rock said. "I’ll take the sting for the go-ahead hit." Taylor’s bloop single scored Ryan Wood from third and broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning, propelling the Turks to a 6-2 win over the Staunton Braves on Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. "I got it off the end of the bat," Taylor said. "It was a breaking ball." Wood, a sophomore from East Carolina, reached on a leadoff double and got to third on a passed ball. After Taylor’s single, the Turks (22-8), who hadn’t scored since the first inning, scored three more runs on an RBI single from Brett Stewart (Appalachian State) and a two-run single from Alex Lyons (Taft). "Robert is probably the best clutch hitter we have," Harrisonburg manager Bob Wease said. Both teams pushed two runs across in the first inning. Harrisonburg scored on a two-run double from David Dennis (Oklahoma City University) before Staunton starter Adam Kalafos settled down and retired 10 straight batters, striking out six during that stretch. "We just let him get back in a groove," said Taylor, who finished 1-for-4. "He threw a lot pitches for strikes. "… He probably didn’t come out as strong as he would’ve liked, but he’s a quality pitcher." Staunton (17-14) scored on a pair of RBI singles off Turks’ starter Ashur Tolliver, who didn’t give up another run, despite allowing 10 base runners after the first inning. Tolliver, a left-hander from Arkansas-Little Rock, was pulled after the sixth. He allowed two earned runs, six hits, walked four and struck out nine – one of which left an impact on Wease. That strikeout came in the bottom of the fifth with two outs and the bases loaded to preserve the tie. "That may have been the play of the game," Wease said. After a healthy serving of fastballs to Staunton’s Zach Barrett that turned into a 3-2 count, Tolliver decided to try something different. "I got my confidence up and threw a change-up and he was out in front," said Tolliver, while taking a break from some post-game mound maintenance. "Disrupting his timing was the main thing. "It was a big pitch." After Harrisonburg’s four-run eighth, Staunton attempted a rally, but fell short against Turks’ closer Garrett Parker. Parker, who hasn’t allowed a run all season, gave up a leadoff single and two walks to load the bases. However, the hard-throwing right-hander from Howard got out of the mess with a fly out and two strikeouts to end the game. "This was a great team effort," Wease said. "Everyone contributed. Everyone was in the ballgame. This is the way baseball should be played." Staunton 200 000 000 – 2 7 1 Harrisonburg 200 000 04x – 6 8 2 Kalafos, Hayes (7), Copeland (8), Beerbohm (8), Goodyear (8) and Clendenin, Burns; Tolliver, Reinart (7), Parker (9) and Franco. W – Reinart (2-0). L – Copeland (1-1). HRs – none.