The Turks (18-10) couldn’t keep up with Charlottesville’s early punch as the TomSox took a 9-3 win on Saturday in Harrisonburg. Charlottesville (21-9) extended its lead in the South Division to two games with a quarter of the regular season remaining. 

Both teams wasted no time putting up offense, scoring two runs each in the first inning. Turks first baseman Jack Cannizzaro singled up the middle to score left fielder Chris Katz. An error in left field then allowed Cannizzaro to score from second. Cannizzaro is third on the Turks in both hits and RBI with 22 and 27, respectively.

Charlottesville responded with three more runs in the second inning courtesy of a bases-loaded triple to center field by second baseman Ryan Wynn. Wynn is placed fourth on the TomSox with a .325 batting average in 22 games this summer. 

The Turks could not push any runs across between the first and ninth innings, collecting six hits and 13 strikeouts in that time. Harrisonburg also left multiple runners on base four separate times. 

“We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had in front of us,” assistant coach Jowell Bernacet said.”When you get two runs at the beginning of the game, you want to keep attacking. Unfortunately, their guy threw pretty well. Our guys tried to make adjustments throughout the game, but he had our number.” 

Charlottesville extended its lead in the ninth inning, putting up three runs on Wynn’s second triple of the game and a double by first baseman Caden Ferraro. Ferraro has a .370 batting average in seven games for the TomSox this season.

The Turks managed to put up one run in the bottom of the ninth when pinch hitter Cam Nelson scored on a single to right field, but the six-run deficit proved too much to overcome. Harrisonburg will now look to rebound as this loss ended a five-game winning streak.

“We can’t change anything based on one game,” Bernacet said. “The more we try to change anything right now, the more the mindset starts changing within the team. We want to keep these guys as focused as possible every day.” 

The Turks will remain at home for a game against the Covington Lumberjacks this evening. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m.