6/17/05 – Daily News Record

Covington Falls At Memorial 2-1 By DUSTIN DOPIRAK Daily News-Record When third baseman Steve Head’s throw sailed well wide of first on the first play of Thursday’s game, it appeared that the Harrisonburg Turks’ troubled defense was in for another meltdown. But instead, it was in for one of its best baseball games of the season. The Turks, who had made 20 errors in their previous four games, didn’t make another error the rest of the night at Memorial Stadium and made several stellar plays in a 2-1 victory over the Covington Lumberjacks (7-4), the first-place team in the Valley League’s Southern Division. First baseman Clint Robinson (Troy) went 2-for-3 and broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with an RBI double. Thanks in large part to the defensive help, pitchers Sean Jarrett (Arizona), Jeff Carroll (Ohio State) and Chris Fessler (Yavapai) combined to yield just one run on five hits. "The defense played well," Turks manager Bob Wease said. "We played a good ball game, we hustled. They all played great tonight." Harrisonburg second baseman Josh Richardson (Indiana) was the defensive star of the night for the Turks, who won their second straight game to improve to 6-6 and move 1 ½ games back of Covington. Richardson showed great range on several balls hit his way including a line drive up the middle by Covington shortstop Trey Sutton (Southern Mississippi). He made the play of the night in the eighth when he backed up first baseman Clint Robinson (Troy) on a groundball by Lumberjacks right fielder Matt Bounds (Louisiana-Lafayette) that went through Robinson’s legs. Richardson got to the ball before it reached the outfield and got Bounds out at first. Richardson also drove in the game’s first run. Head (Indiana) scored on his RBI groundout in the second inning. "He did a great job for us," Wease said. "He made a great backup on the ball that Clint missed. It was a great play. He made a nice play up the middle. He made a nice play up the middle. He made another nice play over here. He made a nice snag of a line drive. He just played a great ball game. He hustled all the way." The Turks pitchers showed faith in their often-erratic defense. Jarrett, who started in his first game, struck out four batters in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed just two hits and kept the ball down, with all but one of his other 13 outs coming on groundballs. The only ball he allowed out of the infield was Bounds’ RBI single in the sixth. "We played real good tonight defensively," Jarrett said. "It was fun to watch the defensive players on all of the groundballs that I gave them. That helped out a lot. It’s always good to have good defense behind you when you don’t have your best stuff." Covington pitcher Sam Walls lost despite an outstanding outing. He held the Turks to just seven hits in an eight-inning complete game, striking out six while walking none. Covington 000 001 000 — 1 5 0 Harrisonburg 010 001 00X — 2 7 1 Walls and Mercado; Jarrett, Carroll (6), Fessler (9) and Sluder. WP-Carroll (1-0). LP-Walls (0-1). S-Fessler (5)