Written by Brien Krug
Turks Staff Writer
June 28, 2021
The Turks were coming into the make up game from June 10th against South division foe, the Waynesboro Generals, on a little scuffle after being swept by Purcellville Sunday.
Liam McDonnell (1-0, 3.60 ERA) got the call to make his first start in 11 days for manager Bob Wease’s Turks. McDonnell would show no signs of rust in the 1st setting down the Generals 1-2-3 but would run into some trouble in the 2nd. A leadoff ground rule double got Waynesboro rally started. After a walk and a 5-4-3 double play it looked like McDonnell would be able to escape the jam but the Generals catcher, Alex Arauz, would hit a perfectly placed swinging bunt for a single giving Waynesboro the early lead.
McDonnell would get in some trouble again in the 3rd. A leadoff hit by pitch would have Waynesboro cooking in the 3rd. McDonnell would get a fly out and fielder’s choice to record the first two outs and it looked like McDonnell may escape the crisis unharmed. But Waynesboro would put together a 2 out rally with back to back singles leading to another run.
The Generals would continue to pile it on McDonnell in the 4th. After allowing a free pass to the lead off hitter again, the JMU Duke, McDonnell, would give up a 2 run homer to Stephen Wilmer and there was a look of a blowout early in Harrisonburg as Waynesboro took the 4-0 lead.
After only mustering 1 baserunner through the first 3 innings the Turks bats would finally come alive in the 4th. A 1 out solo homer off the bat of Michael Rosario got the Turks going. Back to back singles from McNeely and Hartigan would set the stage for Jordan Sweeney. Sweeney would tap a ball over to 3rd where the Generals 3rd baseman, Jase Felker, would bounce a ball over to first for a throwing error that would trickle to the fence allowing both McNeely and Hartigan to score making the score 4-3. However, Sweeney was then gunned down trying to get to 3rd on the play to end the inning.
Nicholas Borek would make his 3rd appearance of the year coming out of the bullpen in the 5th. Borek would do a fantastic job keeping the Turks in the game pitching 3 one hit innings before finally lapsing in the 8th. Borek would successfully record the first two outs of the inning before walking the Waynesboro DH, Connor Cino, ending his night. Ben Sieracki would come on for Borek and have some command issues. Sieracki would walk 3 out of 4 batters to load the bases and finally bring in the 5th run for the Generals. Sieracki would escape any further damage getting Max Weller to strike out.
After scoring the run in the 8th it looked as if Waynesboro had sealed their 4th consecutive victory but the Turks had different plans. A lead off single from Carlos Marte got the rally started for the Turks. Another single from Rosario would move Marte up to 2nd setting the stage for Logan McNeely. McNeely, who arrived to the team late due to a deep run in the DII NCAA tournament would lace a clutch double to left center scoring both Marte and Rosario for his 4th and 5th RBI’s tying the game up at 5. After McNeely would move over to 3rd on a wild pitch, Peyton Crispin would hustle out an infield single and just like that Harrisonburg held the 6-5 lead late in the 8th.
Ben Sieracki would go back out on the mound. A leadoff walk would get the inning started for the Generals. However, Sieracki would settle down and set down the rest of the Waynesboro side in order sealing longtime Turks manager Bob Wease’s 500th career victory 6-5.
The Turks (10-8) earn an important half game in the standings on the first place Charlottesville Tom Sox (13-6) who will come into town to take on Harrisonburg for the 3rd time this year with 1st pitch coming at 7:30 PM.