ST. MARYS – Some squandered opportunities Tuesday afternoon cost the Curwensville Golden Tide a 6-5 loss to Elk County Catholic (ECC) in high school baseball.
The defeat snaps a four game winning streak for the Tide who now stand at 6-2 on the 2010 campaign.
The Crusaders wasted no time getting on the board and jumping out in front of the visiting Tide with three first inning runs that held up until the top of the third inning when Curwensville tied things up with three runs of their own.
Boone McGary started the third for Curwensville by blasting a triple to centerfield and scoring the first run for the Tide when Hunter McCracken grounded out to shortstop bringing home McGary.
Jed Greslick followed by striking out but reaching first base on a passed ball on the third strike. Wes McGarry then walked putting Tide base runners on first and second with just one out. Another passed ball moved the runners to second (McGarry) and third (Greslick). A double by Sam Gardner brought home his two Tide teammates and after two and half innings the game was even at 3-3.
ECC would go ahead with a run in the bottom of the third and pick up another in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run by catcher Zac Brody.
Curwensville would again tie the game at 5-5 with two runs in the top of the fifth only to have the Crusaders push across the winning run in the bottom half of the frame.
The Tide had an opportunity to score earlier in the game, the second inning, when Shane Hoover and Shae Best each singled with no outs. Jonathan Michaels, Tide catcher, then promptly lined a shot back to ECC pitcher Luke Daghir who promptly took the Tide out of the inning as he started the rare triple play.
Curwensville had four extra base hits compared to one for the Crusaders. Gardner, Brett Sutika and Michaels each had a double for the Tide while McGary had a triple. Wes McGarry and Hoover paced Curwensville with two hits each.
Golden Tide head coach Denny Johns knew his team missed some opportunities, “We certainly had our opportunities to score some more runs but we just couldn’t pick up the timely hits this time around.”
Joe Jacob, Jake Cortina and Zac Brody all had two hits for Elk County Catholic with Cortina picking up three RBI’s.
Curwensville is back in action on Wednesday afternoon at home against Brockway starting at 4:15 pm. The Tide defeated the Rovers in the first game of the year 8-6.
CURWENSVILLE – 5
Jed Greslick ss 3100, Wes McGarry p 3220, Sam Gardner cf 4012, Brett Sutika 2b 4111, Shane Hoover rf 4021, Shae Best lf 3010, Jonathan Michaels c 3010, Boone McGary 1b 3110, Hunter McCracken 3b 3001, TOTALS – 30 5 9 5
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 6
Ricky Pearsall lf 4110, Eric Wehler cf 2110, Joe Jacob 3b 3221, Luke Daghir p/c 3111, Jake Cortina 1b 3023, Pat Brennen 2b/p 3000, Zac Brody c 3121, Sam Schneider 2b 0000, Hank Cappiello ss 3010, Kyle Schneider rf 1000, Tyler Herzing rf 1000, TOTALS – 26 6 10 6
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 003 020 0 5 9 0
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 301 110 x 6 10 3
ERRORS – Jacob, Cappiello, Brody LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 8 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 4
2B – Gardner, Sutika, Michaels 3B – McGarry HR – Brody (4th, solo) SB – Greslick TRIPLE PLAY – ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
McGarry 6 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
Daghir 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Brennen 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
WP – Daghir LP – McGarry (3-2)