June 7, 2022
Written by John Breeden
Harrisonburg, VA
In a game where they led through the first seven innings, the Harrisonburg Turks lost 3-2 to the Covington Lumberjacks Monday night at Eagle Field. The loss moves them to 1-2 this season.
“[I] thought we could’ve had some more timely hits, but overall [I] thought we did good,” pitcher Mitchell Farris (Wingate) said. “There’s nothing really to press about … we’re in a good spot.”
Farris threw five strikeouts, only allowed three hits, and allowed no runs after six innings. He says he tries to keep it “simple” when on the mound and throws strikes.
Center fielder Sam Schner (Florida Tech) hit a single in the bottom of the third and later scored courtesy of an RBI single from second baseman Seaver King (Wingate). Left fielder Jaylon Lee (EMU) picked up where he left off on Sunday night and hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to put the Turks up 2-0.
“It was cool to be up [in the lead] first this time,” Lee said. “But once you get up you gotta keep adding it [runs] on because of everybody in this league’s good. If they [the opponent] keep adding scores, we need to do the same.”
Lee hit a three-run home run Sunday night in Harrisonburg’s 10-9 loss to the Waynesboro Generals and hit an RBI triple in Friday night’s 4-3 win over the Charlottesville Tom Sox. Lee said he tries to “stay high” and do his part by contributing runs. “We have a really deep lineup as far as hitting,” Lee said. “I just want to keep contributing [and] doing what I can to help us try to win games.” Lee has scored runs in all three Turks games this season but he said he doesn’t feel the team
relies on him; he said everyone relies on each other to get hits because they all know they’re capable at the plate.
“Everybody’s having good at-bats,” Lee said. “I just happen to get lucky right now and I’m actually getting the ball down [and] finding gaps and stuff like that.”
Covington got on the board in the top of the seventh when third baseman Cooper George scored on a passed ball. The Lumberjacks drove in the game-tying run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single from the second baseman Gavin Baird. Like the first two games this season, the Turks entered the ninth inning with the score tied.
With the bases loaded and one out, the Lumberjacks brought across another run to take the lead 3-2. The Turks weren’t able to rally in the bottom of the ninth as three quick outs ended the game. Despite the loss, Farris said a positive is that Turks have been in contention for the win in every game so far.