06/15/2010 – Turks Tidbits
Turks Beat Luray 4-2 in the Ninth By Todd Jones James Madison University Intern
Luray, VA – The Luray Wranglers tried their best to rope and corral the Harrisonburg Turks, but with the game on the line the Turks did their finest ‘greased pig’ impression and slipped out of the Wranglers’ grasp pulling away 4-2 in the 9th. This game would be dictated by the mound as the Turks started Ryan Sorce (Pensacola CC) at pitcher and the Wranglers led off with Cody Weiss on top of the hill. After a scoreless 1st inning highlighted by three successive Turks’ catches, two by CF Reuben Sosa ; the Turks came to plate looking to strike first. The bases were loaded after two walks by Scott Dalrymple (Okl. City) and Shaun Cooper (Arizona) sandwiched a base hit by Patrick Savage. After JJ Loker (USC – Aiken) was struck out, Emilio Pagan (Gardner-Webb)was then also walked bringing in the forced run and giving the Turks the 1-0 advantage. After getting their first run, two successive strike outs would put the Turks mitts back out on the field leaving the bases loaded.
The score would remain the same as defense took control in the next few innings highlighted by an athletic leaping catch made by 3B JJ Loker in the bottom of the 3rd. In the bottom of the 5th inning Luray would strike back with a home run hit by Jonathan Griffin, tying the score 1-1 where it would stay until the bottom of the 7th inning. In the bottom of the 7th after two doubles brought in a run for Luray, Stephen Styck (St. Josephs) stepped to the mound for clean up duty, relieving Ryan Sorce after a strong performance. Two successive outs later the Turks were back at the plate trying to recover from a 2-1 deficit. However, with two pitching changes and three strikeouts by Luray in the top of the 8th the Wranglers would hold their slim lead. The Turks defense held strong in the bottom of the 8th keeping Luray in-check thanks in part to the terrific performance at catcher by Scott Dalrymple. Dalrymple ran down a perfectly placed bunt that seemed to be out of his reach and within an eye’s blink had rocketed a throw to 1B Patrick Savage just beating the runner on a photo-finish. Styck followed this up with a strike out and the Turks had one last chance at escaping the Wranglers. After Luray brought in their fourth pitcher on this night Dalrymple was walked and later advanced to second off the bunt by Patrick Savage who was tagged out. Dalrymple was welcomed home after base hits by Shaun Cooper and JJ Loker, tying the score 2-2. Three more base hits by Emilio Pagan (Gardner Webb), Joshua Band (Rollins), and Reuben Sosa (W. Okl.) brought in two more runs (Cooper, Loker) and pushed the score to 4-2 in the Turks favor. After closing out the top of the 9th the Wranglers now had what would be their last opportunity to catch up with Harrisonburg. After a base hit by Jonathan Griffin, Nick Rickles hit a grounder to Turks’ pitcher Stephen Styck, who threw out Griffin at second base, prompting a double play as Rickles was then thrown out at first. After giving up a walk, Styck confidently stepped to the mound and struck out the last batter of the night, giving the Turks the 4-2 victory. The win was the Turks fourth in a row and brings their record on the season to 5-4. Looking to push their win streak to 5, Harrisonburg returns to JMU Veterans Memorial Stadium Wednesday July 16th to face Haymarket at 730.