CURWENSVILLE—-The Curwensville Golden Tide got some sweet revenge Monday afternoon when they downed visiting Elk County Catholic (ECC) 7-3. Just last Monday the Tide lost at ECC in a close one, 7-6. The Tide now have a sparkling 10-4 record under first year mentor Ryan Briskar.
The Tide jumped on ECC starter Andy Herbstritt for four quick runs in the bottom half of the first inning and never looked back. Curwensville also tallied one run in the third and two more in the sixth to back a strong and gutsy mound performance by Brett McCracken, who picked up the win for the Tide in pitching all seven innings with a case of strep throat.
Coach Briskar mentioned a few of the many heroes that he had on the day stating, “Brett McCracken was brilliant in sucking it up and pitching great for us when he was under the weather with strep throat. That was just an amazing performance from a tough kid.” Justin McGary had a career day at the plate going 4 for 4 and Briskar said that, “Justin McGary really stepped up huge for us today at the plate. He hit the ball hard all day long and it was nice to see the success he had.”
Trevor Horton hit a solo home run down the left field line for the Tide in the third and on the day the big guy was 2 for 4. Ben McGary also stroked two hits for the Tide while Joe Bloom smacked a double. Bloom had to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning with an injury while playing left field. Curwensville had an even dozen base hits on the day compared to six for Elk County Catholic.
Senior right fielder Brandon Hess helped the Tide pick up two big runs in the sixth with a key single which didn’t go unnoticed by Briskar as he mentioned, “Hess had that giant hit for us in the sixth that really put the game out of reach. It was just a very fine piece of hitting.”
The Tide travel to West Branch today for a key Moshannon Valley League contest that starts at 4:30. Curwensville is 5-0 in league play and can clinch the 2007 championship with a win.
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ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 3 Tom Schneider lf/p 4000, Jessie Bosnik ss 4220, Nick Brennen cf 1010, Andy Herbstritt p/3b 4011, Tom Jovenitti rf 4010, Dan Hamkins dh 3101, Nick Childs 1b 0000, Andy Wehler 2b 2000, Josh Lovenduski 3b/1b 3000 and Matt Schreiber c 3010.
CURWENSVILLE – 7 Ben McGary cf 3020, Justin McGary 2b 4141, Brett McCracken p 3110, Trevor Horton dh 4220, Andrew Straw 3b 0000, Joe Bloom lf 2012, Sam Gardner lf 1000, Mark Dellantonio 1b 3101, Cory Bloom c 2011, Jesse Hoover ss 2100, Brandon Hess rf 3011, and Andrew Starr pr 0000.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 000 110 1 3 6 1
CURWENSVILLE 401 002 x 7 12 1
ERRORS-Hoover and Childs. LOB-Curwensville 6 and ECC 9. DP-None. 2B-J. Bloom, Bosnik. And Brennen. HR-Horton (solo, 3rd inning). SAC- B. McCracken. SB- B. McGary, A. Starr, Bosnik-2 and Brennen. HBP-Brennen (by B. McCracken)
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE B. McCracken 7IP, 6H, 3R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1K.
ECC Herbstritt 5IP, 10H, 5R, 3ER, 0 BB, 4K.
Schneider 1IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 1K.
WP-B. McCracken LP- Herbstritt
