06/26/2008 – Daily News Record

Harrisonburg Falls To 7-13 Written By Tim Chapman Daily News Record HARRISONBURG – Through the first five innings of Wednesday’s Valley League baseball game between Luray and Harrisonburg, it was a pitchers’ duel. Turks starter Garrett Parker had given up only one earned run on three hits to go with seven strikeouts. The Wranglers’ Alex Wimmers pitched five shutout innings, giving up only three hits, while striking out five. But it was the bullpen play that put the game out of reach for Harrisonburg in the 4-0 loss. "Their pitching staff is good," Turks coach Bob Wease said. "It’s not any better than ours. They just got a break. They shouldn’t have gotten the first run, then they got the next run and the boy hit a homerun." The "next run" and home run Wease referred to came in the sixth inning after he pulled Parker for reliever Chris Chapman. With a man on second and one out, Luray right fielder Jeff Jefferson lined a double into shallow center to score the second run. Chapman than delivered a 2-2 pitch to center fielder Austin Markel, who crushed it to left-center for the two-run shot. "The pitcher just made a mistake and left the ball over the middle and I put a decent swing on it," Markel said. The Turks (7-13) struggled to buy a decent swing all night. Luray coach Mike Bocock also replaced his starter after the fifth, but reliever Eric Hinkle picked up right where Wimmers left off. Hinkle allowed only two runners on base – including a walk and hit batsman – and allowed no hits, while striking out eight. The left-hander may have taken all the life out of the Turks’ batters when he struck out the side in the seventh. "It’s just like we can’t get anything going," Wease said. "You gotta be able to put the ball in play. If you can’t put it in play you can’t win." Luray is 14-6.