Roach’s Late RBI Edges Out Hot Rebels

Chase Kiddy | Harrisonburg Turks Staff Writer

W: Logan Onda (3-1)
L: Waynes Wages (1-3)

 

Joey Roach drove in Brandon Gold with a base hit to right field late in the eighth inning, Logan Onda earned his third win in relief, and Harrisonburg beat New Market 5-4 for the second time this season at Veterans Memorial Park.

Harrisonburg (13-7) trailed New Market 4-2 after five innings, but Bob Wease’s team was unwilling to lose back-to-back home games to middle-of-the-pack teams in the Valley League. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, designated hitter Luke Czajkowski hit a 2-RBI single to score left fielder Eric Kalbfleisch and Gold from third and second, respectively, to knot the game at four runs apiece.

Then, in the eight inning, the tie was broken. Kalbfleisch walked at the start of the inning, and was thrown out at second when the Rebels tried to turn a 4-6-3 double play off of Gold’s grounder to second.

To the delight of the Turks fans who stayed despite early-evening rain, Gold beat out the throw from second to first. And after he advanced to second base on a wild pitch one batter later, Joey Roach pushed a single just over the head of New Market first baseman Dom Wyshinski that scored Gold from second for the go-ahead run.

Onda, who had been inserted on the mound at the start of the eighth inning, pitched two strong innings in relief for the win. He allowed no hits or walks, and struck out the final two batters in the ninth frame to end the game.

After six appearances and 15.2 innings pitched, Onda sports a 1.14 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, three wins, two saves, and 13 strikeouts.

J.R. Holloway received his first No Decision of the summer in his second start for the Turks. He gave up 10 hits and four runs in five innings of action Wednesday night, walking two and fanning three. His only other outing was a win in Covington back on June 19.

Center fielder Thomas Spitz was the only Turk with a multi-hit game vs the Rebels, finishing 2 of 4 with a run scored. For New Market, DH Timothy Kiene finished 2 of 4 with two runs scored and a walk.

If you’re having trouble shaking off some Deja Vu, that’s because this score looks familiar. Harrisonburg walked off against New Market in its season opener on May 30 this year, beating the Rebels 5-4 on Kalbfleisch’s single down the left line that scored Czajkowski (pinch-hitting that night) and won the game.

New Market (7-11) has improved its record quite a bit since those first few days of the season. After losing each of their first seven games, the Rebels won seven of their last 10 contests, before dropping Wednesday night’s game in Harrisonburg.

The Turks are on another 3-game road tilt, but will return home to play Woodstock in Veterans Memorial Park on Sunday night. First pitch is set for 7:30pm.

 

 

Chase Kiddy has served as the Harrisonburg Turks’ staff writer since Spring 2012. Contact him at ckiddy09@gmail.com, or yell at him in the press box during home games at Veterans Memorial Park.