Offensive Explosion Power the Turks Over Front Royal
Written by Adam Cherry
Intern, LaSalle
It was another beautiful night in Front Royal as the Harrisonburg Turks took on the Front Royal Cardinals. The aroma of hotdogs, hamburgers and popcorn filled the afternoon air. Kevin Lewallyn (Duke) was given his second start of the year. The staring pitcher for Front Royal was Beau Bowen.
The offensive explosion started in the third inning. Christopher Barr started the inning off by hitting a hard ball that bounced off the first basemen’s chest. He was then moved to second base by a wild pitch. Matt Rose then hit a ball that tight lined down the third baseline for a single. That set the stage for Eric Kalbfleisch (UNCG) who hit a sac fly to left field to score Barr from third. Turks lead 1-0.
Lewallyn walked the second hitter of the inning after striking out the first hitter. Christopher Barr dropped a foul ball that was costly. Wardy Planco then towered the next pitch off the left center fence scoring the runner from first. This was the only earned run for Lewallyn. Shell McCain then walked after five pitches. Lewallyn then picked the runner off first, but the Turks were not able to convert it into an out. Lewallyn struck out the batter with a high fastball. After three innings the score was 1-1.
The Turks kept the accelerator pushed to the floor in the fifth inning. Chris Barr started the inning off with a one out walk. Barr then stole second while Rose was at the plate. Barr was able to get to third on another wild pitch. After six pitches, Rose was able to reach first on another walk. Barr was able to score from third on the third wild pitch of the inning. Rose was able to jog to second following the pitch. Kalbfleisch roped a double into the left center gap scoring Rose from second. Joey Roach (Georgia State) ripped a single off the pitchers leg moving Kalbfleisch to third. Kalbfleisch was able to score on the fourth wild pitch of the inning. The score after the fifth inning was 4-1.
The Turks made the Cardinal reliever, Logan Longworth pay for costly mistakes in the sixth. Ben Breazeale (Wake Forest) started the inning off with a double off the left center wall. Steven McLean (Baylor) then walked on five pitches. Thomas Spitz (Wingate) sacrifice bunted back to the pitcher to move runners to second and third with one out. Christopher Barr then hit a ground ball up the middle scoring both runners pushing the Turks lead to 6-1. Kalbfleisch was able to reach first on a catchers interference call moving runners to first and second. Joey Roach roped a triple down the first baseline scoring Kalbfleisch and Barr. Jesse Baker (UTSA) was drilled on the shoulder on the first pitch that he saw. Baker then stole second on the first pitch to Hunter King (UNCG). King then hit the fourth pitch of the at bat into center field scoring two more runs, pushing the lead to 10-1.
Kevin Lewallyn pitched 5.1 innings while only surrendering one earned run and
struck out seven Cardinals. He moves to 2-0 on the season. Brett Morgan (Wingate) was able to pitch the rest of the game without surrendering any more runs. Morgan got his first save of the season after pitching 3.2 innings with seven strikeouts. The Turks move to 2-3 and the Front Royal Cardinals fall to 4-1.
The Turks are off tomorrow. The Turks next game is June 7th, at Woodstock. First pitch is slated for 7:30pm. Go Turks!
Adam Cherry is a current Turks pitcher and writes feature recaps for Harrisonburg away games.