06/11/2010 – Turks Tidbits
By Brett Kucheruk, Turks Webcast Color Commentator James Madison University Intern
Harrisonburg, VA – After the last few games in which the bullpen let down the Harrisonburg Turks starting pitchers, Coach Wease left the ball in his starters hand as Drew Granier (Louisiana-Monroe) pitched a complete game to get the 5-1 Turks victory over the Covington Lumberjacks. Granier demonstrated the old school baseball mentality by finishing what he started, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits and two walks while striking out eight Lumberjacks en route to the complete game victory. All night Granier had the Covington hitters off balance with his curveball causing the Lumberjack hitters to top the ball grounding out or popping up fly balls that were easily handled by the Turks fielders. The Turks hitters gave their starter the run support he needed scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning after many failed opportunities in the first four innings. Early on the Turks hit the Covington starter, Matt Reed ( South Florida ), hard for eight base hits, but were unable to capitalize as Reed was able to bear down and work the corners of the plate to strand six Turks base-runners in the first four innings. Everything changed for Reed in the fifth as he was unable to work his way out of trouble like he had done in previous innings as the Turks scored five runs on four hits. Terrance Jackson ( Oklahoma City ) started the inning off with a single into left and was followed by the best at-bat of the night as Tyler Carpenter (UT-San Antonio) fell behind 0-2 before fouling a couple pitches off and coaxing a walk out of Reed. A perfectly placed bunt down the third base line by Shaun Cooper (Pima C.C.) loaded the bases for the Turks. Patrick Savage ( Auburn ), who hit a triple in the third inning that one-hopped the right field fence, came up and was able to work another full count walk out of the Lumberjacks starting pitcher to give the Turks their first run of the night. Scott Dalrymple ( Oklahoma City ) wasted little time, taking the third pitch he saw and hitting a rocket into right center for a bases-clearing triple. The night ended for Matt Reed (0-1) but not for the Turks scoring as J.J. Loker (USC-Aiken) hit the first pitch he saw for a line drive single to center that was mishandled, allowing Dalrymple to scored and Loker to scamper to second. That was all the run support the star of the game Granier , now 1-0, needed as he got progressively stronger as the night went on. The only Lumberjack run came in the second inning when Andrew Longley ( South Florida ) was hit by a pitch, advanced to third after a pass ball and an Issac Wenrich (Franklin Pierce) ground out and scored on the second pass ball of the inning. More Turks excitement came in the top of the sixth inning when Longley hit a single into left and Giuseppe Papaccio (Seton Hall) tried to score from second but was gunned down at the plate for the final out on a great throw from the Turks left fielder Cooper in a bang-bang play. The Turks banged out 13 hits on the night surrendering just two (Andrew Longley) to the Jacks. Harrisonburg (2-4) plays their next two games on the road against a hot Woodstock team (4-1) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and then on Sunday against Winchester at 6:00 p.m. The Turks return home to play Haymarket on Wednesday June 16th at 7:30 p.m.