The Golden Tide had beaten the Cardinals back in April, 9-3. This win pushes the Tide’s record to 9-4 on the 2010 season. The loss for the Cardinals was only their second of the year.
Curwensville started the slugfest by crossing home plate four times in the top of the first inning only to have DCC score three in the bottom half of the opening inning.
The second inning was even more productive for both squads as the Tide added five runs while the Cardinals put four more on the board to trail 9-7 after two.
The Tide offense took a break in the third as they were held scoreless but DuBois Central Catholic kept it going by scoring two and knotting the game at 9-9 after three. Unfortunately for the Cardinals it would be the last time they would find home plate as Tide starting pitcher Sam Gardner settled down, blanking DCC over the final four innings.
Head coach of the Tide, Denny Johns, talked about the offensive battle, “It was certainly a wild one there for awhile as both teams took each other’s best punches. We did finally settle down defensively after the third.”
Then Johns added, “I liked the fact that we kept the pressure on them offensively throughout the course of the game.”
Gardner and Brett Sutika each had three hits for Curwensville with Gardner smacking a double and Sutika driving in three. Shane Hoover and Jonathan Michaels also helped out the Tide offense with two hits apiece.
DuBois Central Catholic was paced by Kyle Mann with three hits and Ethan Gillespie, Dante DeSantis and Alex Allender each chipping in with two hits. Mann, Gillespie and DeSantis each banged out a double.
Gardner went the distance for the Golden Tide to set his record at 4-1 on the season.
Johns knows the next two weeks are going to be a challenge, “We play eight games in eleven days over the next two weeks and it’s nice to start it with a win, especially against a good team like DuBois Central.”
The Golden Tide return to action on Wednesday when they host Harmony in a Moshannon Valley League game starting at 4:15 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – 15
Jed Greslick ss 4111, Wes McGarry cf 4212, Sam Gardner p 4331, Brett Sutika 2b 4233, Shane Hoover lf/rf 4322, Jonathan Michaels c 4022, Alex Holland cr 0000, Boone McGary 1b 4111, Garrett LaBorde rf 2212, Shae Best lf 1000, Derek Brothers 3b 2100, Hunter McCracken 3b 2001, TOTALS – 35 15 14 15
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC – 9
Kyle Mann ss 3330, Ethan Gillespie lf/p 5223, Dante DeSantis cf 4122, Ben Miknis c 4001, Will Gangewere p/lf 4001, Brian Fuller 2b 3011, Cody Gulvas 3b/p 4000, Mark Walker 1b 2110, Alex Allender rf 4220, TOTALS – 33 9 11 8
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 450 141 0 15 14 3
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 342 000 0 9 11 2
ERRORS – Allender, Mann, Sutika, Greslick, Hoover LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 9 DCC – 10 2B – Gardner, Mann, Gillespie, DeSantis SB – DeSantis, Gardner 2 SAC – Sutika, Miknis DP – DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC HBP – McGary (by Gillespie), Mann, Walker (by Gardner)
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
Gardner 7 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 2 HB
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Gangewere 1 IP, 4 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 5 BB, 1 K
Gillespie 3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HB
Gulvas 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
WP – Gardner (4-1) LP – Gillespie