Written By Brien Krug
Turks Staff Writer
July 10, 2021
The Turks were looking to continue their winning ways as the Lumberjacks of Covington traveled to Harrisonburg for a South division matchup.
The Turks would get the scoring started in the 2nd. Logan McNeely would get the inning started with a single after a fielder’s choice from Hartigan caused the two to switch places. A grounder would move Hartigan to scoring position for Jordan Sweeney. Sweeney would knock a single to center and the Turks would take the early 1-0 lead.
Will Mercer, who was making his 4th start of the year for Bob Wease’s Turks, ran into some trouble in the 3rd. A single from Amani Larry got the rally started for the Jacks. An error from Frederic Walter would move runners to 1st and 2nd with only 1 out. A grounder would move runners to 2nd and 3rd, setting the stage for Covington 3rd baseman Jack Howell. Howell would hit a slow grounder to 2nd that Cameron Barto would have trouble fielding the ball, allowing the runner from 3rd to score.
Mercer would run into trouble again in the 4th when Covington’s 2nd baseman Dylan Mach would line a ball deep into the left field corner for a leadoff triple. Mach would eventually come in to score on a groundout and the Jacks had taken the lead 2-1.
Covington struck again in the 7th. Jacks Catcher Cole Ketzner would work a leadoff walk and after Nicholas Borek, who replaced Mercer after 5 innings of work, would get the next two Covington batters out Tommy Castillo would step up and hit a ball out to center that Lockett would lose in the dark night sky and fall for an RBI double giving Covington the late 3-1 lead.
The Turks offense, who had been quiet over the last 4 innings only mustering 2 hits over that span, would quickly respond back. Logan McNeely would lace a single to center to start the inning and on the first pitch, he saw Connor Hartigan would knock a ball into the left-center gap for an RBI triple and the lead was cut to 1. The Turks would continue to threaten after Safferwich would reach base and move up to 2nd with 1 out, but back-to-back strike out’s would end the threat for Harrisonburg.
Covington would put the finishing touches on the game in the 8th. A leadoff single got the rally started for the Jacks. Borek, who had been solid all year sporting a 2.61 ERA on the year, would give up back-to-back hits capped off by a 2 run moonshot from All-Star outfielder Victor Castillo. But Covington wasn’t done yet, with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd Borek would give up a double to Jack’s 1st baseman Nathan Becker and the Lumberjacks had broken the game open to take the 6-2 lead.
The Turks would add a run in the 8th on an RBI single from Rosario, his 7th in 3 games, but would come up short, losing 6-3 to last place Covington.
Harrisonburg (13-15) will be back in action tomorrow when they travel North to face off against the first place Strasburg Express (21-8) in an interdivisional doubleheader starting at 5:30 PM.