RIDGWAY – It was a nice day to take a trip north to Ridgway on Wednesday afternoon, at least for the Curwensville High School baseball team. The Golden Tide knocked off the Elkers for the second time this year, 8-6. Curwensville had beaten Ridgway in early April, 9-8. With the victory the Tide move their 2008 record to 12-5.
It wasn’t easy, but Tide head coach Ryan Briskar pushed all the right buttons to pick up the “W”.
The Elkers took an early two to nothing lead after one inning was in the books against Curwensville pitcher Justin Johnston.
Johnston didn’t have his best stuff on the afternoon as he walked nine batters but thankfully for the Tide gave up only three hits to pick up the win. The win, though, had a lot to do with relief pitcher Ben McGary coming in and holding Ridgway to two runs.
The Tide did get on the board for three runs in the top of the third inning thanks to a 2 RBI triple by sophomore Jed Greslick. Ridgway came right back in the bottom of the third to go out in front 4-3 with two more runs.
McGary came in with two outs in the fifth inning and held the Elkers scoreless until the seventh inning. In the bottom of the seventh Ridgway did score two runs off of the Tide junior to make it close before knuckling down to seal the victory for the visitors. Ridgway first baseman, Joe Chittester, did the damage in the final inning with a one out, two run homer.
Then again Greslick did some damage of his own in the top of the seventh for Curwensville as he stroked another two RBI triple. On the day Greslick drove home five Tide teammates.
Coach Briskar certainly was impressed, “Jed (Greslick) had one off game and came right back today with a monster game. With his speed, anything he hits in the gap spells trouble for our opposition. I’m glad he’s on our side.” As for McGary, “Ben (McGary) just seems to find a way to give us a boost at the right time. Other than the homer in the seventh he pretty much shut down Ridgway when we needed it.”
The Golden Tide travel to Flinton on Monday to meet up with Glendale, a team they beat earlier this season, 14-3. Game time is set for 4 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – Ben McGary cf/p 3110, Sam Gardner lf/cf 4310, Jed Greslick rf 3235, Brett McCracken ss 4022, Justin Johnston p 0000, Jonathan Michaels dh 3010, Trevor Horton ph 1000, Jesse Hoover ss 2000, Derek Dixon ph 1000, Cory Bloom c 4000, Brett Sutika 2b 3010, Mark Dell’Antonio 1b 2210. TOTALS – 30 8 10 7
RIDGWAY – Barry Wilson rf 1200, Jerico Weitzel ss 2200, Mike Miraglia p 3122, Joe Chittester 1b 3113, Joe Renaud 3b 4011, Hudson Rees c, 2000, Derek Gaffey lf 4000, Alex Bradshaw cf 2000, David Casolo ph 1000, Sam Skraba 2b 3000. TOTALS – 25 6 4 6
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 003 020 3 8 10 2
RIDGWAY 202 000 2 6 4 1
ERRORS – Sutika, Hoover, Miraglia. LOB – Curwensville – 3 Ridgway – 6. 2B – Gardner, McCracken. 3B – Greslick 2. HR – Chittester (2 run, 7th.) SAC – Greslick. SB – McGary, McCracken, Gardner 2, Rees Skraba, Miraglia.
PITCHING IP H R ER BB K
CURWENSVILLE
Johnston 4 2/3 3 4 4 9 2
McGary 2 1/3 1 2 2 0 3
RIDGWAY
Miraglia 7 10 8 7 3 5
WP – Johnston (3-2) LP – Miraglia