Written by Brien Krug  
Turks Staff Writer  
July 16, 2021  

Harrisonburg was coming off a big 13-6 win to move into sole possession of 2nd in the South division when they traveled across the mountain to clash with the top of the VBL, the Charlottesville Tom Sox.

Andres Rodriguez got the start on the bump for the Turks. Rodriguez has been so good against the Tom Sox all year, in 2 previous appearances, the righty sported a 1-1 record with a 0.00 ERA against the Sox. However, the story would be different this time around. The Tom Sox would get to Rodriguez in the 2nd. Back-to-back singles followed by a walk would load the bases for Sox shortstop Cole Foster. Foster would take a 4 pitch walk and the Sox had an early 1-0 lead. A double play would score another run but it looked like Rodriguez may just escape the jam with only 1 given up but an error followed by a double would score two unearned runs and the Sox had taken a 4-0 lead.

Charlottesville would score again in the 4th off the backs of a leadoff triple and a sac fly. Harrisonburg would get its one and only run of the contest in the 5th with a solo homer off the bat of Logan McNeely, his second of the summer. The Tom Sox would go on to score 3 runs in both the 7th and 8th innings to amass an 11-1 lead and with accordance to the new VBL mercy rule (if a team is leading by 10 anytime after the 7th inning (5th for doubleheaders) the game would be called) the Turks would lose 11-1 and move back to .500.

The Turks will be back in action tonight as they host the Staunton Braves at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park in a pivotal South division matchup starting at 7:30 PM.