Saturday, June 18, 2022
John Breeden
Harrisonburg, VA
The Harrisonburg Turks lost to the Charlottesville Tom Sox 10-8 in a hard-fought game Friday at Charlottesville High School. The loss moves them to 6-5 this season and 3-2 on the road.
“The difference maker came down to some of the calls from the umpires, to be honest,” left fielder Jaylon Lee said. “That’s baseball, you gotta be able to deal with that.”
In the top of the second, first baseman Christian Ficca (Georgetown U) and designated hitter Mitch Farris (Wingate) walked and Lee (EMU) was hit by a pitch — loading the bases. Right fielder Bradley Bott (UNCG) walked to force the first run of the game. Farris scored on an infield RBI for the Turks’ second run.
The Turks extended their lead in the top of the third as pinch-runner Casey Smith (James Madison) scored on an infield RBI.
Charlottesville’s Kyle Edwards (ODU) hit a double in the bottom of the third and later scored on an infield RBI.
Harrisonburg fired back in the top of the fourth with an RBI single from center fielder Sam Schner (Florida Tech).
“[We’re] learning new things every day,” Schner said. “We’re seeing some great arms [pitchers] here, some great teams … it’s great for all of us to get the experience.”
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Lee slammed a solo home run to left field — putting the Turks up 5-1. This was Lee’s second home run of the season with his first being a three-run shot at Waynesboro on June 5.
“When it comes to righties throwing changeups if you’re not comfortable throwing it to a right-handed hitter too, they just kind of float it over the plate,” Lee said. “I just got my barrel out to it [the pitch] and was able to put a nice swing on it.”
Second baseman Brenden Vern (College Central FL) slammed one to center field for the second solo home run of the game in the top of the sixth.
The Tom Sox cut into the Turks’ lead in the bottom of the sixth as John Newton (UNC Wilmington) scored on a sacrifice fly. Garrett Spikes (Georgia) and Brody Moss (Auburn) scored two unearned runs to cut the lead to two.
Lee added to the Turks’ score again in the top of the seventh, driving in shortstop Seaver King (Wingate) on an RBI single.
Charlottesville scored again in the bottom of the seventh as Logan Amis (VCU) scored on an RBI double from Cole Wagner (Georgia). With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Moss scored on a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game. The Tom Sox took their first lead of the game on a two-run RBI single from Wagner.
Things only got worse for the Turks in the bottom of the eighth as Newton launched a two-run homer to left field to extend Charlottesville’s lead to three.
The Turks wouldn’t go away quietly in the top of the ninth as Farris hit a one-out solo homer to right field — but they weren’t able to rally enough as two more outs ended the game. Despite the loss, Schner said “it’s all going to come” to the team soon and that it’s still early in the season. “We’re swinging the bats well, it’s all going to fall into place,” Schner said.
The Turks travel to Covington to face the Lumberjacks Saturday at 7 p.m. They return home
Sunday to face Winchester in a doubleheader at 5:30 p.m.