The Shadow
HARRISONBURG – It was eight days prior when Covington pounded the defending Valley Baseball League champion Harrisonburg 9-1. Eight days later the Turks got one back on the Lumberjacks with a slim 5-4 victory at Veterans Memorial Park on Thursday night.
Looking down and out, Covington made it a relatively interesting game in the seventh inning. With two outs and trailing 5-0 the Lumberjacks pushed across four runs to pull within a run and even had a chance to take the lead.
With the bases loaded, Thomas Marsala (3-for-3) brought in the first run on an RBI single. One batter later, Spencer Williams (1-for-4) hit a bases-clearing three-run triple to bring Covington within one run. With the momentum on the Lumberjacks side and looking to tie or potentially take the lead, Chad Harvey (S) who had just entered the game out of the bullpen and gave up the three-run triple, settled down and would strike out Jackson Toberman (1-for-3) to end and cut the rally short for the Jacks’.
The seventh inning was Covington’s moment as the team would not get a base runner on base for the rest of the game. The Lumberjacks final six batters were retired to end the game.
The loss for Covington for the team’s fifth in a row. Despite the seventh inning, the offense struggled at the plate. As a team the Lumberjacks batted 5-for-30 at the plate and only had two hits through the first six innings before that four run seventh inning.
Marsala led the Jacks’ with a three-hit performance in three at bats, while Williams led the team with three RBI’s. In his fourth appearance and first start of the season, Landon Lucas (L/0-1) lasted 2.2 innings where he allowed two runs on four hits, while striking out three, and walked one. Garrett Darner and Carlos Escobosa also pitched for the Jacks’. Escobosa tossed 2.1 shutout innings where he struck out three.
Jacob Green (2-for-3), Cameron Harris (2-for-4), and Jose Perez (2-for-3), each had a pair of hits in the win for Harrisonburg, while Perez led the team with two RBI’s. Joseph Valchar (W) earned the win for the Turks after a stellar performance on the mound. Valchar tossed five shutout innings, while giving up a pair of hits, two walks, and struck out six. It was the right-handed pitcher’s longest outing of the season in four games, including three starts.
Covington is 3-2 on the season against Harrisonburg. The two clubs will meet three more times, including this Friday at Casey Field.
Covington 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 – 4 5 1
Harrisonburg 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 x – 5 7 1
W – Joseph Valchar. L – Landon Lucas. S – Chad Harvey.
