Written by Rodrigo Aviles
Turks Broadcast Intern
New Market, Va. – Despite a rough start to the season, the Harrisonburg Turks are turning their fortunes around and are now on a three-game winning streak. They defeated the New Market Rebels 11-4 to continue their winning ways. The Turks have now won five of their last six games and have improved from 2-7 to a record of 7-8.
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when Caston Peter singled to bat in Josh Madole for the Turks.
The Turks’ catcher, Harry Brown, later hit a double batting in Jed Bryant and Aaron Levy. Caston Peter then came across to score off a Nick Zona single.
Harry Brown then scored after stealing home plate and put the Turks up five runs in the fourth.
The sixth inning saw the Turks extend their lead. McCann Mellett, the Turks’ second baseman, hit a double which allowed Brown and Jacob Edwards to score for the Turks.
Aaron Levy hit a single and Mellett and Zack Budzik scored to put the Turks ahead 9-0 in the top of the sixth.
In the seventh inning, Turks’ pitcher Ryan Bergenhagen checked in for starting pitcher Austin Koehn.
Koehn had a good night on the mound and got the victory for the Turks. He pitched six innings, giving up four hits, no runs, two walks and getting nine strikeouts posting a 1.80 ERA.
The bottom of the seventh saw New Market mount some offense of their own.
Joshua Cox, the Rebels’ left fielder, got things started hitting a triple putting Kyle Decker and Jonah Seagears through for New Market. Cox later scored off a stolen base making the score 9-3.
Liam McDonnell made his pitching debut for the Turks after being subbed in for Bergenhagen in the seventh.
Bergenhagen pitched a third of an inning giving up one hit, three earned runs, three walks and one strikeout.
In the ninth inning, the Turks scored two more runs to secure the win. Caston Peter and Harry Brown scored once again off a Cam Grimes single.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Rebels attempted a rally but came up short. Rebels’ right fielder, Kyle Decker, crossed home plate off an error from the Turks for the final run of the game.
Turks’ first baseman Josh Madole putout David Smith to end the game giving the Turks an 11-4 victory in New Market.
Liam McDonnell ended his debut night on the mound with no hits, one run, two walks and five strikeouts.
The Turks will face the Covington Lumberjacks (10-7) at Casey Field at 7 p.m. In the last meeting between the two, the Turks defeated the Lumberjacks 2-0.