Written by Brien Krug
Turks Staff Writer
June 29, 2021
The Turks were looking to carry the momentum of their come-from-behind win as they hosted the 1st place Charlottesville Tom Sox in a South division matchup.
Bob Wease would call on Christian Ciuffetelli (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who was making his 3rd appearance but only 1st start of the season. After a solid 1-2-3 inning to start the game, the Oregon Duck, Ciuffetelli would run into some trouble in the 2nd. A 1 out homer from Sox catcher Cal Stark gave Charlottesville the early 1-0 lead. After recording the 2nd out of the inning the Tom Sox would put together quite the 2 out rally. The next 5 Charlottesville batters would reach base with a 3B, 2 1B, and 2 BB scoring 4 more runs giving the Tom Sox a 5-0 lead.
The Turks would quickly respond in the home half. A leadoff single from the red-hot Logan McNeely would get the rally started for Harrisonburg. A single from Derek Crum would move McNeely over to 3rd bringing up big 1st baseman Jordan Sweeney. Sweeney knocked a ball about 395 feet out to the warning track in center for a sac fly, cutting into the Tom Sox lead.
Will Carter would come on in relief of Ciuffetelli in the 3rd and quickly struggle. A hit by a pitch and a double had the Sox threatening with runners at 2nd and 3rd with no one down. A RBI single and a manufactured 1st and 3rd run would extend the Sox lead before Carter could strike out Charlottesville right fielder Elijah Nunez, stranding the bases loaded.
After the rough 3rd Carter would settle down and really keep the Turks in the game. Over the next 3 innings, Carter would only allow 1 hit and give up 0 runs. The Turks would make things interesting in the 5th. A leadoff walk followed by a double down the right-field line had Harrisonburg in business. In stepped Frederic Walter, the Frenchman would hit a ball out into the right-center gap that would drop for a 2 run double, and all of a sudden the Turks were within “slam range” of the Sox. However, the next 3 Turks batters would be set down including two strikeouts stranding Walter at 3rd.
Charlottesville would put the final nail in the coffin in the 7th. With Carter still on the mound, the Tom Sox would get back-to-back singles with a stolen base in between to extend their lead to 8-3 over the Turks.
Harrisonburg would get an unearned run from Michael Dansky in the 8th but it was too little too late for the Turks who would drop the final game of their 4 game homestand 8-4. Turks fall to 10-9 on the year and go 1-3 on the homestand. Harrisonburg will be back in action tomorrow as they travel over the mountain to Charlottesville to take on the same Charlottesville Tom Sox (14-6) with 1st pitch at 7:00 PM.