Written By Jackson Campbell
Broadcast Intern
COVINGTON, VA – The Turks made the nearly two-hour, scenic drive down 64 West to Covington worth every second for the Harrisonburg fans in attendance with a 12-1 rout of the Lumberjacks last night.
With both teams wearing red uniforms, the play on the field was what separated the two South division foes on a muggy Saturday night, with Turks offensive production coming in all different varieties. Second baseman Bryan Arias picked up where he left off against Staunton on Thursday, and hit his third home run in the last four games to give Harrisonburg a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With a little bit of early run support, Tucker McCoy settled in quickly as the Turks starter, ending his night with six shutout innings on the mound, and just two hits allowed.
Even on a night when McCoy shined, the Turks continued to provide run support throughout. In the top of the sixth, leftfielder Jason Serchay made it 5-0 Harrisonburg with a two-RBI single through the middle of the Lumberjacks infield, and just two batters later rightfielder Tanner Dofflemyer brought home Trevor Denton.
Right-handed pitcher Donnie Sellers came in relief of McCoy in the seventh, recording the final nine outs of the night for Harrisonburg. He allowed three hits, and one run to outfielder Norry Galjour (Nicholls State University) who hit a solo home run to right field, giving Covington their only run of the night.
If there was any hope for Covington to cut into the lead, it ended in the top of the eighth inning when the Turks quickly loaded the bases. Lumberjacks pitcher Orlando Cannon (ASA College) then promptly walked Jonathan Pryor to bring in a run.
Cannon was replaced by Logan Hicks (University of the Cumberlands) who proceeded to walk shortstop Tripp Shelton and centerfielder Ryne Sigmon both with the bases loaded making it 10-0 Turks. By the time the inning was all said and done, Covington had faced 11 Turks batters and given up five runs.
The win gave manager Bob Wease the 400th win of his career in only 634 games, and it moved the Turks to 4-3 on the season. Wease has been managing since 2002, and has a .631 career winning percentage.
The Turks have three more games on the current road trip, where they will be traveling to New Market, Winchester, and Woodstock before returning home on Thursday, June 16th to host the Lumberjacks for DuPont Community Credit Union Night.