Camp, Turks dampen Waynesboro’s spirits

W: Justin Camp (4-0)
L: Thomas Woodrey (1-1)

 

Harrisonburg ace Justin Camp is up to his old tricks again, but this latest performance was in primetime, on Saturday night, in front of a packed Veterans Memorial Park. The result was another scintillating performance by Camp, as the Turks blanked the Waynesboro Generals 7-0. Harrisonburg is now 10-1 in its last 11 games.

Camp, who improved to 4-0 in five starts this season, was dealing again on Saturday night. Waynesboro (9-13) did manage five hits off him, two of which were doubles by shortstop Tyler Bocock and catcher Roger Gonzalez, but the Generals couldn’t find enough offense on an intermittently rainy night to get on the board.

Camp, an Auburn product, pitched seven innings of shutout baseball, with a 23-minute rain delay resting his arm in the bottom of the fourth. His ERA is now 1.18, good for the tenth-best mark in the league.

Harrisonburg (15-6) lent its ace plenty of run support on Saturday night, though he didn’t necessarily need it. First baseman Mike Warren hit an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning to give Harrisonburg the only run it would need, but the Turks tacked on another 3 in the third, 2 in the fifth and 1 in the sixth just for good measure.

The sixth inning run was particularly strange. With one out and runners on second and third, Generals reliever Sean Buchholz intended to walk shortstop RJ Perucki to set up the potential double play. Prior to his first intentional ball, Buchholz balked, and center fielder Jace Whitley scored the seventh and final run of the evening.

Warren finished 2 of 4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Warren is batting .362 on the season, the fourth-best mark in the league.

Thomas Smith, who played third base against Waynesboro on Saturday, finished 1 of 2 with 2 RBI. Warren and Smith had the game’s only RBIs.

Harrisonburg now has a 3-game winning streak, tied for the longest in the league with Covington (7-14). The Turks improved their Southern Division lead to 1.5 games ahead of the New Market Rebels (15-9), and 2.5 games ahead of the Staunton Braves (14-10). Harrisonburg will host the Braves on Sunday night at 7:30.