CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville catcher Jonathan Michaels smacked a bases loaded single with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday afternoon to drive home the winning tally in the Golden Tide’s 7-6 win over the visiting West Branch Warriors in Moshannon Valley League baseball action.
The Tide pulled out the extra inning thriller in spite of committing nine errors and dealing with some nasty weather, as did the Warriors. Curwensville is now 2-0 on the year under first year head coach Denny Johns.
West Branch didn’t help their cause as they left 13 on base while banging out 11 hits, all singles.
The Warriors, now 3-2 on the season, did jump out to a quick 2-0 lead after they batted in the top half of the first only to have the Tide come up with three runs of their own in the bottom of the opening frame.
Sam Gardner, starting Curwensville pitcher, hit a double in the first driving home two teammates, Jed Greslick and Wes McGarry. Brett Sutika finished the scoring in the first by driving in Gardner with a single.
The Tide lead didn’t last long as the Warriors picked up three more in the top of the second inning and after two it was West Branch out on top 5-4.
Curwensville went ahead in the bottom of the fourth inning, 6-5, as first baseman Garrett LaBorde and Jed Greslick each scored on a single by Gardner. Gardner picked up four RBI’s on the afternoon.
West Branch would knot the score at 6 each in the top of the sixth inning which would be the last run crossing the plate until the Tide pulled out the win in the bottom of the ninth.
Sutika started the ninth for the Tide with a walk while Shane Hoover and Shae Best loaded the bases with singles. Best beat out a bunt to reach first before Michaels performed his heroics.
With a 3-2 count to Michaels the senior promptly lined a single to left field scoring Sutika with the game winner.
The Tide picked up three hits by Hoover and Gardner and two from Greslick and Sutika. Todd Rees paced the Warriors with three singles while Curtis Baugh drove in two runs.
Johns spoke about the game and the win afterwards, “The weather was certainly a factor and both teams battled it all day the best they could.”
Hoover made a big throw in the top of the ninth which Johns commented about, “Shane (Hoover) made a great throw to the plate in the top of the ninth cutting down one of their runners. That was really big for us.”
Defense was not a highlight for the Tide as Johns noted, “Defensively we are giving the other team too many opportunities. We really need to tighten up our defense to stay competitive. We will certainly continue to work on this aspect of the game every day.”
Curwensville will travel to Johnsonburg on Tuesday to play the Rams in a game that will start 4:15 pm.
WEST BRANCH – 6
Chris Beveridge cf 5210, Curtis Baugh ss 5112, Todd Rees 2b 5130, Dylan Corl p 5110, Ryan Wesesky c 4011, Chad Speigle rf 5010, Adam Timchak 3b 3010, A. Lidgett lf 3000, Gavin Luzier ph/lf 0000, T. Bell 1b 2110, B. Speigle 1b 2010
TOTALS – 39 6 11 3
CURWENSVILLE – 7
Jed Greslick lf/ss 3320, Wes McGarry cf/p 4110, Sam Gardner p/c f 5134, Brett Sutika 2b 4122, Shane Hoover ss/rf 5030, Alex Holland rf 0000, Shae Best rf/lf 4010, Jonathan Michaels c 4011, Derek Brothers 3b 4000, Garrett LaBorde 1b 2110, Boone McGary 1b 1000
TOTALS – 36 7 14 7
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
WEST BRANCH 230 001 000 6 11 4
CURWENSVILLE 310 200 001 7 14 9
ERRORS – Greslick, Michaels, LaBorde, Best 2, Hoover 4, Corl 2, Baugh 2 LOB – WEST BRANCH 13 CURWENSVILLE – 9 2B – McGarry, Gardner SB -Gardner SAC – Best DP – CURWENSVILLE – 2
HBP – Luzier (by Gardner)
WINNING RUN SCORED WITH NO OUTS IN BOTTOM OF THE NINTH.
PITCHING IP H R ER BB K HBP
CURWENSVILLE
Gardner 7 10 6 3 2 8 1
McGarry 2 1 0 0 0 2 0
WEST BRANCH
Corl 8 14 7 7 6 7 0
WP – McGarry (2-0) LP – Corl