8/1/04 – Daily News Record

Harrisonburg Makes An Abrupt Exit From Tourney By DUSTIN DOPIRAK Daily News-Record COVINGTON – Before Sunday night’s playoff game against Harrisonburg, Covington co-owner Jason Helnintoller drove around town from dollar store to dollar store collecting broom sticks for the Lumberjacks’ possible sweep of the Turks. In all, he picked up 110 of them for a $1 each, filling the stands at Covington’s Casey Field with the brooms, some of which were turquoise with pink bristles. "There’s not a broom left in a dollar store in Covington," Helnintoller said shortly after his squad bounced the Turks from the Valley League playoffs, 4-1. He may have been tempting fate, bringing out the brooms in a three-game series — especially since the Jacks were the fourth-seeded team in the Southern Division playing against the team with the league’s best regular-season record. That team also happened to be pitching its ace, Tim Gudex of Iowa, who finished the regular season with an ERA of 1.21. Thanks to a brilliant pitching performance by left-hander Matt Hancock and a crucial two-run home run by center fielder Wally Crancer, however, the Lumberjacks (20-26) completed a 2-0 sweep of the Turks. "We just wanted to do something to help the fans back the team," Helnintoller’s co-owner and father, Clyde, said. "And we weren’t worried about [tempting fate]. We feel pretty good about our team. We don’t think our records indicate the quality of players that we have." Hancock’s record certainly didn’t indicate the quality he is. He finished the regular season with an ERA of 3.79, but had a record of just 1-4. He had a rocky start Sunday, allowing a first-inning RBI-single to designated hitter Matt Weglarz. However after that, he baffled the Turks (30-16), keeping the ball low and forcing ground-outs. He allowed a single to start the second inning. After that, just two Turks reached base and none got a hit. It was painful for Turks owner/coach Bob Wease to have what he often called the best team he ever had fall in the quarterfinals. However, he focused on the positives of the season even in defeat. "It’s not the way I wanted it to end, but hey it’s baseball," Wease said. "We won 30 ballgames this year; we had a great season. We just lost two in a row at the end." Harrisonburg 100 000 000 – 1 3 0 Covington 000 130 00x – 4 9 1 Gudex, Weber (8) and Sluder; Hancock and Carpenter. W – Hancock. L – Gudex. HR – C: Crancer.