Written by Jackson Campbell
Broadcast Intern

For a while in the Turks-Braves battle last night, it seemed a certainty that the game would come down to a walk-off or extra innings, but Staunton had other plans. In a 1-1 game in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Braves unleashed one single after another, patiently plating nearly every starter for a 8-1 lead by the end of it.

The Nicholas Mira-Ryan Hall combination was particularly lethal for Staunton, twice extending the lead on Hall’s RBI’s. They also got five innings from starter Thad Ward, who allowed just four hits and one run. The three relievers for the Braves combined for four innings of two-hit, no run baseball.

Chris Farish took the hill for Harrisonburg, and was outstanding in his six innings of work. He gave up one run on five hits and got out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the second inning by inducing a double play from Nicholas Mira. Farish left the game in a one-one tie, so Eric Yankey was credited with the loss for the Turks, and Jonathan Pryor also got an inning of relief work. On the Braves end, Jordan Silverman was the winning pitcher.

It was a second consecutive tough night for the Turks offense, and the lone bright spots came from Greg Popatak and his two singles, and Jonathan Pryor’s double to deep left field over the head of Connor Crile that scored Bryan Arias in the fifth to break the 0-0 stalemate.

In the seventh, four of the Braves runs came on singles from Hall, Keegan Maronpot, and Romy Gonzalez, and the last two were scored off of an error and a wild pitch. With just six outs remaining, the Turks were unable to put a rally together despite having three men on base.

The Turks (23-13) return home tonight to face the Front Royal Cardinals (18-18) at 7:30.