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

Ryan Chapman: From Turks player to Turks coach

Written by Ryan Hourigan
James Madison University Intern

The Harrisonburg Turks would like to announce the addition of Assistant Coach Ryan Chapman for the 2012 season. This will be Chapman’s first time coaching with the Harrisonburg Turks.

Ryan Chapman is a senior right-handed pitcher from Racine, Ohio and attends the University of Rio Grande. Ryan attended Racine Southern High School where his team went to regional’s three out of the four years he attended as well as being conference champions. Ryan threw a no-hitter and perfect game in back-to-back games his senior season. Ryan is studying Education at Rio Grande and one day hopes to work as an intervention specialist with special needs children within the junior high or high school ranks.

In his career at Rio Grande, Ryan has been named 2nd-team all conference as a freshman and as a sophomore the Redstorm went to the national tournament but were eliminated in the first round. As a freshman Ryan went 5-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 69.2 innings, as a sophomore he went 6-4 with four saves and a 2.70 ERA in 53.1 innings, and as a junior Ryan went 2-4 with nine saves and a 2.39 ERA in 37.2 innings.

Ryan has a very solid philosophy, one that comes from being a hard working pitcher. He believes that from being a pitcher, it allows him to not only understand the pitching side of the game but will also allow him to help the Turks batters on where he thinks pitchers will throw to them. From his pitching mindset he now can help the Turks players realize their weaknesses at the plate, the ones that he would see as a pitcher, and help them develop those and learn how to hit the pitches that pitchers would attack them with.

This is not the first time Ryan has coached. Ryan coached American Legion during the summer and has worked with high school players on Saturdays during the fall, usually head coaching three to four games a weekend. Although Ryan loves the coaching aspect of the games, he always wants to be the player with the ball in the bottom of the ninth.

While playing under Coach Wease and his staff for two summers he has learned that they are some of the most knowledgeable coaches he has ever played for. Ryan wants to learn as much as he can from all of the coaches and be a sponge and take in any new information that he can while working with the Turks coaching staff. He is looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Turks and would be honored to do so in future summers.

Ryan will be back in Harrisonburg this summer for a third time and will embrace this coaching opportunity with open arms.