6/5/2006 – Daily News Record
Written By Jeremy Cothran New Market beat Harrisonburg in a Valley District baseball game Sunday. NEW MARKET — Bob Wease knows his team can’t continue to play sloppy defense if it expects to contend in the Valley League. Sunday night, the Turks showed exactly why. New Market (2-1) broke open a scoreless game with three unearned runs in the fifth inning and the Rebels beat winless Harrisonburg 3-0 on a chilly night at Rebel Park. Third baseman Gary Martoccio of Rollins College committed two infield gaffes in the frame that contribute to the Rebels’ scoring outburst, which also included a two-run single by Connecticut freshman Dale Brannon "It was the same exact thing on Saturday," Wease said, referring to a three-run fifth inning in the Turks’ 3-0 loss to Covington. "We’ve had 15 errors in three ballgames. You can’t win games like that." Former Turner Ashby High School standout Justin Wood took the loss, giving up six hits and striking out two. Offensively, the Turks (0-3) were stymied by Rebels starter John Ducey, who allowed just two hits in six innings. Ducey — a junior from Armstrong Atlantic State University, a Division II school in Savannah, Ga. – took advantage of an effective two-seam fastball that he worked inside to the Turks’ mostly left-handed hitting lineup. "I had a lot of break on my two-seam; that helped out a lot tonight," Ducey said. "They had quite a bit of lefties out there and I needed to get that pitch inside." One advantage the Rebels had was a full roster of available players, a luxury the Turks do not have yet. New Market coach Blaine Brown was able to make pitching substitutions based on hitting situations, going to his bullpen four times after the sixth inning. "You’ve got to play the match-ups," Brown said. "We have a little bit of a deeper bullpen, and [Harrisonburg] is short on staff. It gives us an advantage." Wease said he expects 12 to 14 players to arrive this week as teams are eliminated from the NCAA tournament. Still, he doesn’t think the lack of a full roster contributed to his team’s loss. "We just need to start catching the ball," Wease said. "Wood pitched a heck of a game tonight. Plus, when you score only four runs in three games, that doesn’t help." Harrisonburg 000 000 001 – 1 7 2 New Market 000 030 00x – 3 6 1 Wood and Freeman; Ducey, Maus (7), Dunn (8), Malzone (9), Dickson (9) and Westman. WP – Ducey (1-0). LP – Wood (0-1). HR – Spain (NA).