JOHNSONBURG – After two and half weeks of rain and postponements the Curwensville Golden Tide baseball squad returned to action on the road in Johnsonburg Thursday afternoon losing a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Rams.
The Tide had not played since it won the season opener over DuBois Central Catholic, 5-0, back on Monday, March 28.
The long layoff certainly took both teams out of any offensive continuity they made have had if more games were played and Tide head coach Denny Johns spoke about the lack of offense, “Both teams really struggled offensively; which I am sure can be contributed to the long layoff. But I don’t want to take anything away from both starting pitchers who both threw a quality game.”
Curwensville senior Garrett LaBorde tossed a three hit gem in a losing cause while freshman Cole Peterson of Johnsonburg blanked the Tide on five hits. LaBorde and Peterson each went the distance.
Johnsonburg scored the game’s only run in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Zach Luhr led off with a single and stole second base. Luhr would score moments later thanks to a single by his younger brother, Quinn Luhr.
LaBorde had two hits for Curwensville while Zach Luhr had two for the Rams. Each had the only extra base hits of the game, both doubles.
Johns added, “Defensively we made some very nice plays in spite of the fact that we committed three errors on the day.”
On the outstanding effort by LaBorde, Johns mentioned, “Garrett kept us in the ball game with some excellent pitching and we hoped we would eventually break through and give him some offensive support. It just wasn’t to be.”
The Tide (1-1) is back in action on Monday afternoon at 4:15 pm in St. Marys when they face the Crusaders of Elk County Catholic.
CURWENSVILLE – 0
Shae Best cf 2000, Hunter McCracken 2b 3000, Shane Hoover ss 3000, Boone McGary 1b 3010, Jesse Zorger 3b 3000, Garrett Labored p 3020, Kyle Bloom c 2010, Brad Coudriet cr 0000, Shelby McGarry rf 0000, Tanner Elensky dh 3000, Jordan Russell lf 2010, TOTALS – 24 0 5 0.
JOHNSONBURG – 1
Cole Peterson p 3000, Cameron Grumley cf 3000, Mitchell Holmberg ss 3000, Joe Holmberg 1b 3000, Zach Luhr c 3120, Quinn Luhr 1011, Frank Kocjancic 2b 3000, Louie Imbrogno rf 2000, Jesse Wolfe lf 1000, TOTALS – 22 1 3 1.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 000 000 0 0 5 3
JOHNSONBURG 000 100 x 1 3 0
ERRORS – Zorger 2, Russell. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 4 JOHNSONBURG – 6. 2B – LaBorde, Z. Luhr. SB – Coudriet, B. McGary, M. Holmberg, Z. Luhr, Kocjancic. SAC – None
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
LaBorde 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
JOHNSONBURG
Peterson 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
WP – Peterson LP – LaBorde (1-1)