HARRISONBURG, Va., June 7, 2015 – A solid five innings from Carlos Chavez his Oklahoma City University teammate Joe Lytle’s three runs batted in secured the Harrisonburg Turks a 8-1 victory over the Charlottesville Tom Sox at Veterans Memorial Park on Sunday night.
Chavez (1-0) struggled early, giving up an unearned run in the first, but settled in nicely striking out the side in back-to-back innings. A final line of three hits, four walks and seven strikeouts over five innings would be good enough to secure the win in his first start of the season.
The offense was lively again for the Turks, collecting a season-high 13 hits, their second double-digit hit output in the first three games of the season. Lytle finished 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs, Jared Baker finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and Billings and McLean contributed two runs scored each.
The Charlottesville offense found it difficult to get anything going on the night, putting up only one run on three hits against the combined effort of the hard-throwing righty Chavez and Yankey, Wiseman and Brown out of the bullpen. As a team, the Turks pitching staff accumulated eleven strikeouts, also a season high.
An unearned run in an error-filled first inning for the Turks would lead to the only run for the Tom Sox.
Tom Sox starter Joe Manion of St. Joseph’s University finished with a line of six runs (three earned) on seven hits and two strikeouts over 3 and two-thirds innings. McBreairty (zero runs allowed), Ellis (one run allowed) and Scott (zero runs allowed) also made appearances on the mound for the opposition.
After a slow start in the first two innings, the Turks put three on the board in the third. Baker got things started with a triple to left field and was pushed across the plate by a Wade Bailey single. A Steven McLean hit-by-pitch and single by Shane Billings later, Lytle roped a single up the middle scoring two more. Three more runs in the fourth doubled the Turks lead and officially put the game out of reach for the Tom Sox.
A Dodson triple in the 7th would lead to another run after a passed ball brought him home and another in the 8th scored by Billings on a Esthay sacrifice fly would bring us to the final score of Turks 8, Tom Sox 1.
Following an off day tomorrow Monday, June 8 the Turks return home on Tuesday to take on the Waynesboro Generals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park. In the meantime, be sure to like our Facebook page, Harrisonburg Turks Baseball and follow on Twitter at @HbgTurksVBL.