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

Pitchers Bring Power to the Turks

Kaelyn Spickler
Turks Staff Writer

Harrisonburg, VA- After having a rocky start to the season, the Harrisonburg Turks have been bringing in win after win. In the last 10 games the Turks are 8-2 with a season record of 11-9. One of the key differences in how the Turks are playing now versus the start of the season is coming from the mound. Our pitchers have adjusted to the pace of the Valley Baseball League, and we have added additional strength to the pitching roster, and now several pitchers are topping the Valley Baseball League charts.

The Turks have three pitchers at the top of the list for wins. Alex Hoppe (UNC Greensboro), Austin Koehn (UNC Greensboro), and Jacob Ferris (Eastern Kentucky University) are tied with three wins. In 13 innings, Hoppe is pitching with an ERA of 2.08, Koehn was pitching with an ERA of 1.80 in his 25 innings, and Ferris is pitching with an ERA of 0.68 in his 26.2 innings. Hoppe can also be credited with one save.

 

The Turks also have three pitchers in the top five with strike outs. Eli Ellington, of UNC Charlotte, (ERA of 1.13 in 16 innings) and Ferris are both tied for third place with 29 strike outs. Coming in third is Will Brain with 28 strike outs and an ERA of 2.08 in his 21.2 innings.

Ferris is also included on the list of lowest ERA coming in second place, and Ellington is not far behind in fourth place.

Just about all these pitchers, in addition to Alex Rodriguez of Wingate, have been named VBL’s Pitcher of the Day for one or more of their performances on the mound. Ferris was also named USA Signs Player of the Week last week.

 

 

 

 

 

In the first week of the season, coach Bob Wease admitted they needed to bring in a few more pitchers, and since these new pitchers have arrived, things have been looking up for the Turks.

Jack Roberts (Elon University), Rafe Schindler (Nunez Community College), Jack Goonan (Virginia Tech), Liam McDonnell (JMU), and Brandon Stephens (UNC Greensboro) have come in and made strong season debuts on the mound.

Now, Coach Wease doesn’t have enough nice things to say about the pitchers, congratulating the guys on the mound after nearly every game. “We got great pitching,” Wease said after Saturday’s game, which is something he has echoed throughout the past couple of weeks.