Late Rally Falls Short as Raiders Defeat Tide

BROOKVILLE — The Golden Tide baseball squad of Curwensville felt so good to get on the baseball field after having to wait out weather postponements that put the start to the season on hold.  The first game out, it took an extra inning for the Tide to get that first win of the season.

Since then, it’s been a struggle.  After dropping the last three contests, the Tide traveled out to Brookville to take on the Raiders hoping to get back on the winning track.

However, the home team would have none of it.  Brookville put up eight runs in the first two innings, and then held off a fast comeback from Curwensville in the late innings to hold on and achieve the 11-7 victory.

Both Jake C. Stiles and his pitching counterpart, Jordan Tosh, would stay on the mount for five innings, but Tosh would get credited with the victory, accounting for three runs, two of them earned, on five hits with five strikeouts in the game.  On the other side, Stiles would yield nine runs on eight hits in his five innings of work, and would be saddled with the loss.

After a ground out, Brookville got things rolling with their second at-bat in the first, as Cody Shaffer reached on an error, then advanced to second when Kyle Dunkle singled into left, and then both advanced another base on a throwing error.  Shawn Blochberger would then hit again into left field, pulling a two-RBI single to give the Raiders the lead, one that they would not yield.  Ben Ritz would single into right to then bring in Blochberger, and then Ben Caun would hit an infield single that would bring in Tate Canavan as the final run for the first inning.

It would only get worse in the second inning.  A Tide error would bring in Tosh, and later in the inning Canavan would hit a single to bring in Dunkle.  Canavan and Ritz would each score later in the inning on another fielding error, giving Brookville the 8-0 lead early on.

Curwensville battled back beginning in the third inning, as a two-RBI single by A.J. Bloom would bring in Nate Strickland and Jake B. Stiles.  An inning later, a sacrifice bunt by Jake Lancaster would bring in Bryce Timko, cutting the lead down to 8-3.

It would be the top of the sixth inning where Curwensville would come back in a big way.

Timko would lead off the inning with a single into left field, but then advanced to third on two balks by relief pitcher Nick Keth.  Lansberry would walk and then steal second, which gave Mo Newkirk a golden opportunity to help his teammates out.  He did just that with a two-RBI single into right-center, cutting the lead down to 8-5.  A fielding error would bring in Newkirk, while Jake B. Stiles would hit an RBI-single to bring the gap down to one, and injected life into Curwensville with still half an inning to play in the sixth.

Brookville, however, would stop the momentum in the bottom half of the frame.

Dunkle would score on a fielder’s choice, and then both Blochberger and Nick Keth would add another two insurance runs to end the scoring, and assure Brookville the victory.

The four-game stretch for Curwensville (1-4) has its final game on Thursday afternoon, as the Tide will return home to host the Brockway Rovers.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville  002 104 0 – 7 10 6
Brookville  440 003 X – 11 9 5

Curwensville-7

Strickland-LF 3110, Terry-SS 4000, J.B. Stiles-3B 4141, Bloom-3B 3021, Lancaster-C 4000, Timko-1B 4220, Lansberry-CF 3100, Lancaster-EH 1000, Newkirk-2B 2112, Shaw-RF 4101.  Totals 32 7 10 5.

Brookville-11

Tosh-P 4100, C. Shaffer-2B 4100, Dunkle-C 3110, Blochberger-1B 3212, Canavan-3B 2211, Na. Keth-3B 1110, Ritz-2B 3122, Ni. Keth-P 1001, Caun-DH 2010, Reinard-DH 2011, W. Shaffer-LF 2000, Beitz-RF 1011, McCullough-RF 3001.  Totals 31 11 9 9.

SB:  J.B. Stiles, Lansberry, Newkirk/Tosh, Dunkle
LOB:  Curwensville-8/Brookville-6

Pitching

Curwensville:  J.C. Stiles-5 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO; Bloom-1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO.
Brookville:  Tosh-5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; Ni. Keth-2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.

WP-Tosh. LP-Stiles

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