Written by Daniel Ware
Turks Staff Writer
HARRISONBURG, Va.—Fueled by a three-run eighth inning, the Turks picked up a 5-2 win against the Winchester Royals Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Park.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Left fielder Jason Serchay (UTSA) dug in with two on and one out, and ripped a single to center off of reliever David Lee (Florida) to score Trevor Craport (Georgia Tech) and Greg Popatak (George Mason) to give the Turks a 4-2 lead. The Turks took a 5-2 lead when Serchay scored two batters while right fielder Tanner Dofflemyer (JMU) was caught stealing second base.
Lee picked up the loss on the night, his first of the season, and gave up three runs (two earned) with two walks and one strikeout.
Left-hander Donte Lindsay (Bethune-Cookman) was very effective on the mound for the Turks, and ended with his best start of the season. He pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and no walks in the no decision. Lindsay lowered his ERA from 3.00 to 2.37 and has 15 strikeouts to just two walks on the season.
The Turks got things going in the bottom of the first off of Royals starting pitcher from Dillon Brown. Second baseman Bryan Arias (UTSA) single to right off the right-hander from Florida State. After Jonathan Pryor (Wake Forest) walked, Craport singled to center, scoring Arias, as the Turks took a 1-0 lead.
Brown had a solid outing, going five innings allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with four strikeouts in the no decision.
The highlight of the night came from Popatak, who, in the bottom of the third, singled to center and came all the way around to score—extending the Turks lead to 2-0—on a three-base error by Royals center fielder Kevin Suarez (Nova Southeastern) when the ball went under his glove and rolled all the way to the wall.
In his Turks debut, right-hander Malik Jones (Georgia Gwinnet) picked up the win. He replaced Lindsay to begin the eighth inning and threw two scoreless innings allowing just one hit with a strikeout and no walks.
Center fielder Jonathan Pryor stayed hot at the plate tonight, going 2-3 with a walk. With four multi-hit games, he’s batting .688 (11-16) in his last five games with six RBIs, four runs scored, six walks, and just one strikeout.
The Turks (15-6) move into first place in the south division with tonight’s win and have a .5 game lead over the Waynesboro Generals (14-6). The Turks return to action Wednesday night with a doubleheader against the Covington Lumberjacks (8-8) at Veterans Memorial Park at 6 p.m.