Harrisonburg Turks

Member of the Valley Baseball League and NACSB.

  • 1955 VBL Champions
  • 1958 VBL Champions
  • 1959 VBL Champions
  • 1962 VBL Champions
  • 1964 VBL Champions
  • 1969 VBL Champions
  • 1970 VBL Champions
  • 1971 VBL Champions
  • 1977 VBL Champions
  • 1991 VBL Champions
  • 2000 VBL Champions
  • 2012 VBL Champions
  • 2023 VBL Champions

Turks Pitching Struggles in Loss

STAUNTON– The Harrisonburg Turks (19-22) fell to the Staunton Braves (20-21) by a score of 12-2. The Turks pitching staff struggled throughout the night to find and maintain a rhythm, which, in the end, was their undoing.

The Turks started the game fast when Zach Little (Wingate) hit the first pitch he saw for a single. He stole his seventeenth base of the season later on and ended up scoring. The Turks would hold on to that one run lead through the third.

In the first two innings starting pitcher, Alex Rodriguez (Wingate), was lights out. Heading into the third inning he had three strikeouts with no walks and looked to be locked in. Then to start the third the Braves got the first two base runners on via walks. Those walks opened the floodgates as Staunton scored four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Staunton ended up scoring in all but three innings as they continued to add on runs and balloon their lead. The Braves starting pitcher, Buckshot Flynn, kept their lead safe as he threw for six innings and only allowed 4 hits, with two of them coming in the first.

The Turks offense never got rolling like they have been able to as of late. Instead they finished the game with less hits than the Braves had runs. They stranded eight runners and couldn’t string together timely hits.

The Turks tried to stifle the Braves offensive attack with different pitchers as Daniel Brandon, Tyler Blomquist, Bailey Sutton and Conner Roberts all came in for some relief innings. In total they allowed a combined seven runs and two home runs. The Braves offense was locked in and was going to continue rolling no matter the pitcher they saw.

The winning pitcher on the night was Flynn (3-1) and the losing pitcher was Rodriguez (2-2).

Now, with the loss, the Turks destiny is out of their hands The Braves are up a game on Harrisonburg, so tomorrow night’s moonlight game against the Charlottesville TomSox gets very interesting. The Turks need to beat the TomSox and they need the Braves to lose to the Waynesboro Generals.

The Turks own all tiebreakers against the Braves, so if both teams finish 20-22 the Turks will be the ones advancing to the postseason. However even if the Turks win and the Braves win the Turks will still miss the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

The Turks will be hosting the TomSox tomorrow night with their season on the line. The first pitch for the game is slated for 9 p.m., a little later than normal. Tomorrow’s game is the last guaranteed home game of the season so be sure to come down and root for your hometown Turks as they play for their postseason lives.