Alwine’s Masterpiece Lifts ‘Sox Over South-Leading Turks, 4-3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– The Charlottesville Tom Sox (4-9) kept the Harrisonburg Turks (11-4) at bay with a good mixture of strong batting and consistent pitching. The ‘Sox took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, calmly cruising to the finish line with a 4-3 victory.
The beginning of what would be a very long reign for Evan Alwine (Florida International)began in the first inning. After allowing a lead-off double, Alwine proceeded to strike out two Turks in a row to turn things over to the ‘Sox offense.
The party in the batter’s box began early for the Tom Sox. Preston Gamster (TCU), out of the two-hole, crushed a no-doubter over the left field wall, giving Charlottesville a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
First inning runs have been scarce for the ‘Sox all season, but that changed in this one. After Gamster’s homer, both Patrick Niehus (Gardner-Webb) and Andrew Mannelly (Wofford)got on base. Evan Taveras (Miami)hit an RBI single, sending Niehus home, and Mannelly scored following a Harrisonburg error on the same play.
Alwine’s second inning followed a similar script to the first. Although his only run was given up in this frame on a home run, the Florida International man sent two more down swinging to close the top of the second.
In case anyone is keeping count, the strikeout counter for Evan Alwineat this point is four. Newsflash, it continues to rise. In the top of the fourth, he sent another Turk down swinging. Five. The top of the fifth followed suit, as he added two more strikeouts to his tally, numbers six and seven.
Much like Harrisonburg, the Charlottesville bats had also gone cold as they were scoreless since the three-spot in the first.
In the bottom of the fifth, things changed a bit for the ‘Sox. Jackson Sirois (Virginia)singled to get the ball rolling. This was followed by a Horned Frog RBI double, courtesy of Gamster, sending Sirois home and putting the Tom Sox lead at 4-1 going into the sixth.
At this point, Alwinehad already surpassed his season high in strikeouts, but he was hungry for more. In what was his last inning of action, Alwineleft everything on the field. Two more Turks went down swinging as he picked up strikeouts eight and nine to end his day.
In the top of the seventh, Brandon Eldridge (Florida Southwestern)entered the game facing a bases loaded situation with the ‘Sox up 4-1. What looked like a daunting scenario turned out to be no threat at all as the three batters Eldridge faced were all retired, and only one run was given up.
After the ‘Sox had shown some offensive power in the bottom of the fifth, they went down in order in both the sixth and seventh innings against Turks reliever Tim Tyler. This kept the score at 4-2 heading into the eighth.
The Turks weren’t done yet. They notched another run in the top of the eighth to narrow the ‘Sox lead to just one. Everyone at CHO Airport Field was on the edge of their seat fans before a clutch defensive play from Brock Clayton (Florida). With runners on the corners and two outs, Clayton pump faked a throw to second on a stolen base attempt, then fired to third. He picked off the runner, keeping the ‘Sox in the lead.
After the Tom Sox couldn’t muster any insurance runs in the eighth, Jason Ban (Davidson) came on for the save. Ban tapped into his clutch gene and went on and strike out the side to get the win for the Tom Sox.
UP NEXT:
The Tom Sox (4-9) travel to Waynesboro to face off against the Generals (6-8) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. This game will be streamed on the Waynesboro Generals Facebook page.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Evan Alwine’s nine strikeouts are the most in any outing by a Tom Sox pitcher this season
The Tom Sox handed the Turks their first loss to a South Division team this season
Jason Ban has now saved three of the Tom Sox four wins
Clayton, Lee Sowers (North Carolina), and Taveras all made their home debut for the ‘Sox tonight
Preston Gamster hit his first home run as a member of the Tom Sox, the team’s sixth long ball of the season
Gamster’s on base streak is now at six games
