Three Home Runs Power Turks
By: Adam Cherry
Player/Intern, LaSalle
Staunton- It was a picture perfect night for baseball in Staunton, Virginia as the Harrisonburg Turks were taking on the Staunton Braves at Ted Bosiack field. The Turks have been playing great baseball as of late. The Turks have won eight of their last ten. The Turks look to continue their hot play with a defeat of the Braves. Manager Bob Wease sent the ace of the Turks pitching staff take the ball tonight. Kevin Lewallyn (Duke) has only given up six runs in 22.1 innings thus far. The Braves manager started Kooper Kessler out of Middle Tennessee State University.
Eric Kalbfleisch launched a home run in the second inning to power the Turks. He crushed a 1-1 fastball over the center field fence to give the Turks a 1-0 lead.
The bats were quiet for the Braves until the sixth inning. The Braves started the rally with one out when Richie Ricciardi hit a ground ball that hit a lip in the infield and bounced over Steven McLeans’ (Baylor) head. The next batter then hit a double into the right center-field gap to put runners on second and third. Lewallyn fired a wild pitch to let Ricciardi score. After six innings, the Turks and Braves were tied 1-1.
Matt Rose (Georgia State) was able to push the Turks ahead in the seventh inning. He smashed a 0-1 fastball over the left center field fence that cleared the trees. Luke Czajkowski hit a screaming line drive for a single to continue the inning. The Turks continued their power surge when catcher Joey Roach (Georgia State) crushed the second home run in the inning. The Turks were able to widen the lead by three with a score of 4-1.
The Turks retired the first hitter of the seventh inning before allowing two runners get on base. The Braves runners advanced to second and third after a slow roller to McLean. Brandon Delk hit a line drive up the middle to score the two runners. The Braves cut down the lead by one.
Ryan Meisinger was brought into the game out of the bullpen to replace Kessler in the eighth. He tossed two innings to keep the game within one run.
Luke Scherzer (Virginia Tech) was entered the game in the eighth to replace Lewallyn. He let the Turks fans hair turn grey as he walked two Brave hitters before striking out the Braves hitter to end the frame.
Scherzer was replaced by Tyler Brown (Wingate) to close the game. He threw a scoreless ninth to get his second save of the year. Browns ERA continues to sink as he now has a minuscule .56 era in sixteen innings. The Turks won the nail biting game with a final score of 4-3. The Turks move to 14-7 on the year while the Braves fall to 8-10. Kevin Lewallyn was the winning pitcher for the Turks as he threw seven innings and giving up three runs. He is now 2-0 on the year.