Turks Resting Pitchers

7/24/2006 – Daily News Record

Daily News Record Written By Marcus Helton But that didn’t keep them from beating Woodstock 10-7 Sunday. With the Valley League playoffs set to start Wednesday, Harrisonburg Turks manager Bob Wease needed a way to ease the burden on his overworked pitching staff. He may have found the answer in two unlikely sources. Anthony Soto and Clint Robinson – both position players who hadn’t pitched all season – played key roles on the hill Sunday as the Turks rallied from a 6-2 deficit for a 10-7 win over Woodstock at Memorial Stadium. "You just can’t afford to put your best pitchers out there or you go into Wednesday and wouldn’t have anybody," Wease said. "We’d be in the same situation. So what we’re doing is we’re holding our pitchers back. That’s the reason Clint and Soto pitched tonight." With the win, the Turks (24-16) kept stayed one game behind Waynesboro (25-15) in the hunt for the Southern Division title with two regular-season games remaining. The Turks visit the Generals today. After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Harrisonburg watched the River Bandits (11-30) string together a six-run second inning to take the lead. Harrisonburg slowly chipped away, though, and went ahead 10-7 on Troy University outfielder Josh Dew’s three-run double in the seventh inning. Robinson, a Troy first baseman, and Soto, a Rollins outfielder, entered in the seventh inning. Robinson allowed one run on one hit while striking out two, while Soto pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing no hits while striking out three and walking none for the win. "I go out in the pen and I mess around out there because I like to know about every part of the game," said Soto, who added he’d never pitched at any level. "I knew how to pitch a little just from talking to the guys on our team and I got an opportunity today. I wasn’t trying to do anything fancy, just throw my pitches over the plate." Woodstock 060 000 100 — 7 9 1 Harrisonburg 200 030 50x — 10 9 3 Dudley, Fowler (5) and Brannon. Woodm Baugh (3), Vallen (6), Robinson (7), Soto (7) and Harrigan. W – Soto (1-0). L – Fowler (1-4).