CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Charlottesville Tom Sox (18-12) will face the Harrisonburg Turks (19-11) tonight at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park in Harrisonburg. It will be broadcast live on the Turks Facebook page. First pitch is set for 7:30 P.M.
Coverage: Viewers can head to the Turks Facebook Page to watch tonight’s game. A link to the live stats is available on Pointstreak. The Tom Sox Twitter account (@CvilleTomSoxVBL) will provide live updates.
Ticket Information: Fans can purchase tickets for the game at the gate. For further ticket information, visit the Turks website.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Charlottesville: RHP Marty Gair, UNC Wilmington (0-0, 4.32 ERA, 8.1 IP, 10 BB, 12 K)
Harrisonburg: RHP Evan Smith, James Madison (2-2, 2.70 ERA, 20.0 IP, 11 BB, 9 K)
LEADING OFF
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The Tom Sox and Turks – two teams on almost identical paths – will face off tonight at Veterans Memorial Park.
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The ‘Sox and Turks have both won 8 of their last 9 games, and both had 7-game win streaks snapped earlier this week by the Braves.
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The Tom Sox sit one game back of the Turks and Generals for first place in the South division.
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Charlottesville’s game last night against Waynesboro was wiped out due to a pop-up drenching at Charlottesville High School. It will be made up on the 24th at 1 P.M.
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Cole Wagner is riding a 21-game on-base streak, the 6th-longest streak by a Tom Sox player all-time.
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Marty Gair will make his third start of the season, and first since the last game against the Turks. He was scheduled to start the last game against Harrisonburg before it was postponed. Tonight will be his first road start since June 13.
SOX ARE HOT!
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The Tom Sox offense has exploded over the last seven games, scoring 65 runs. That’s good for just under 10 runs per game.
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45 of those came in the stretch from July 4-8, the latter in Staunton.
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Charlottesville just snapped a 7-game win streak with Monday’s loss. Over the streak, they batted .332 with 68 hits, 17 doubles, five home runs, and 49 walks to 43 strikeouts.
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33 runs in back-to-back games (7/4 & 7/5) was the most in team history.
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16 runs on July 5 was the second-largest margin of victory in a single game in Tom Sox history. The 17 runs scored on the 4th were tied for the most ever at Charlottesville High School.
AGAINST HARRISONBURG
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The Tom Sox and Turks will meet for the 43rd all-time meeting tonight and fifth this season.
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Charlottesville and Harrisonburg are knotted 2-2 this season. Each team has won the respective meetings at their home fields.
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The Tom Sox have a slight two-game edge in the all-time series courtesy of their last two home wins against the Turks.
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Three of the four games this season have ended in walk-off fashion.
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The ‘Sox delivered a walk-off blow to the Turks in the last meeting, 3-2. Garrett Spikes hit a single over the head of right fielder Mike Rosario in the bottom of the 10th to score Matthew Prevesk. The Tom Sox bullpen combined for seven scoreless innings, four hits, and 12 strikeouts.
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The Turks walked off the Tom Sox in the last meeting at Veterans Memorial Park, 1-0. Sam Schner was the hero, hitting a single to score Matthew Mamatas for the only run of the game. Evan Smith tossed a complete game 2-hitter for the Turks.
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The Tom Sox traveled to VMP last Saturday, but the game was rained out after they arrived.
HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR
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Seven Tom Sox players were named Valley League All-Stars on Monday.
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Three pitchers and four position players were named to the squad.
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‘Sox closers Jack Billings and Tyler McLoughlin plus fellow righty Drew Bryan were the team’s three pitchers. Entering Monday’s game, the three combined for a 1.13 ERA in 32 combined innings, with four wins and five saves.
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The four hitters named to the team were outfielder Carter Cunningham, infielder/outfielder Christian Martin, catcher/DH Satchell Norman, and first baseman Cole Wagner. The four were key to the ‘Sox’s 7-game win streak; combining for a .493 batting average, ten doubles, three homers, and 17 walks over the span. They totaled 27 of the team’s 56 RBI over the seven games (48%) and scored 27 of their 61 runs (44%).
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Two ‘Sox players were named alternates – shortstop Kyle Edwards and righty Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman.
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The seven selections are the second-most in the VBL (Waynesboro, 9) and second-most in Tom Sox history (2017, 9).
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The All-Star Game will take place at 7 P.M. Sunday in Front Royal.
ANOTHER TOUGH STRETCH
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After rain interrupted the planned stretch of 13 games in 11 days (which would have ended Monday), another tough run is upcoming.
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On Wednesday, the Tom Sox began a planned stretch of playing eight of the next nine days; the only day off being the VBL All-Star Game on Sunday.
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There are three doubleheaders during the run for a total of 11 games in nine days.
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After the next planned day off on July 22, the ‘Sox will close the regular season with 2-straight road games on the 23rd & 24th.
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The stretch was already interrupted with last night’s rainout against Waynesboro.
