KANE – The Curwensville high school baseball team made great use of nine hits Thursday afternoon in defeating the Wolves of Kane on the road 6-4.
It was the fourth straight win for the Tide as they moved to 5-1 on the year. Curwensville now has a 3-1 mark in the District 9 Northern Allegany League Small School Division Southern Tier standings.
Golden Tide senior Ben McGary went the distance to pick up his first win of the year to even his record at 1-1. McGary scattered nine hits and struck out eight Wolves to earn the victory.
Tide coach Ryan Briskar talked about his senior hurler, “Ben (McGary) worked deep into the pitch count, but we knew he was capable and his arm is in shape.”
Curwensville scored the game\’s first run in the top half of the second inning when Sam Gardner singled with one out and then raced home on a single by Jed Greslick.
Extra base hits were the key to the Tide scoring two in the top of the third as Wes McGarry led off with a walk. With one out Cory Bloom, the Tide’s senior catcher, rocked a double that plated McGarry. Bloom would later score on a triple by Jesse Hoover. After three innings it was 3-0 in favor of the visiting Tide.
Briskar was quick to point out the work of Hoover and Bloom, “Jesse (Hoover) just hit the ball very well, besides playing a solid game at short for us. And it was another great job by Cory (Bloom) behind the plate. He does a terrific job in handling all of our pitchers. Cory also has a great approach to hitting as he, Hoover and Gardner each picked up two hits.”
Kane didn’t waste much time getting back into the game as the Wolves scored three in the bottom of the fourth inning to knot the game at three each.
The Tide would go ahead for good when they scored one in their half of the fifth and added the winning run in the top of the sixth. McGarry scampered home with the game winner in the top of the sixth on a Brett Sutika double.
Curwensville picked up an insurance run in their final at bat when Hoover hit another triple with Derek Brothers sacrificing Hoover home to set the final at 6-4.
Briskar also had good things to say about a couple of other Tide members, “Brett Sutika is hitting the ball very well, he just can’t seem to get a break. He hits them right at people. Jed (Greslick) had a hard hit ball for a single and he runs the bases as well as anyone.”
Kane was paced by junior right fielder Mike Johnson who launched a two run home run in the fourth inning and doubled in the seventh.
Curwensville is off until Monday when they host Elk County Catholic at 4:15 pm.
NOTE: The Curwensville-Glendale contest that was washed out on Wednesday has been moved to April 28 at Glendale starting at 4:30 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – 6 Ben McGary p 4000, Wes McGarry rf 3210, Brett Sutika 4011, Derek Dixon pr 0000, Cory Bloom c 3221, Nick Opaliski cr 0000, Mark Dell’Antonio 4000, Jesse Hoover ss 4121, Sam Gardner cf 4121, Tyler Johns 3b 3000, Derek Brothers ph 0001, Jed Greslick lf 2011. TOTALS – 31 6 9 6
KANE – 4 Logan Depto cf 4010, Grant Clyde ss 4110, Mike Johnson rf 4122, Tyler Bizzak 1b 3100, Shane Brinkley lf 2000, Tyler Smith lf 2100, Evan Depto p/2b 3010, Rob Kumher c 3010, Mitch Kumher 3b 3021, Cody Martyna 2b 3010, Dave Swanson p 0000. TOTALS – 31 4 9 3
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 012 011 1 6 9 2
KANE 000 301 0 4 9 2
ERRORS – Bloom, Dell’Antonio, Johnson , Bizzak. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 8, KANE – 7
2B – Sutika, Bloom, Johnson, Martyna; 3B – Hoover 2; HR – Johnson ( 2 run, 4th); SB – McGarry, Greslick SAC – Brothers
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE – McGary 7 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 Balk
KANE – E. Depto 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K Swanson 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
WP – McGary (1-1) LP – Evan Depto