Golden Tide Drop Heartbreaker to St. Mary’s in Extra Innings

ST. MARY’S — On Monday, it was the first time the St. Mary’s Flying Dutch and the Curwensville Golden Tide baseball squads met on the diamond.  For the Tide, it was a game to forget as they would be 10-run ruled in a 14-2 rout.  However, on Wednesday the team turned a corner, getting their bats swinging hard to take their second win of the year, this one against Glendale.

With little time to waste, The Tide would once again meet up with St. Mary’s on Thursday afternoon.  Only this time, it would be the Dutch playing host.  This game was originally slated for March 31, but the massive rain that hit the area would push the game to later in the season.

Unlike the first game, this one would come down to the wire.  In fact, seven innings wasn’t enough to decide this one.  Curwensville and St. Mary’s would not only go into extras, they would practically play another half a game.  The contest would stay knotted for five and a half innings.

In the end, St. Mary’s would find the one moment they needed to pounce, and did so to sweep the season series from Curwensville with a 4-3 victory that lasted 10 innings.

Both sides pitched excellent games, but it would be Cameron Winters that would receive the win, pitching five innings of relief and giving up no runs with two strikeouts.  On the opposite side, both R.J. Olson and Bryce Timko would have stellar performances, combining for five strikeouts and only five walks.  Timko would be tabbed with the loss after his four and a third innings of work.

St. Mary’s would get the scoring going in the bottom of the first as Michael Beimel would score on an RBI-double by his brother, Tim.  Two batters later, he scored on a sacrifice fly.

Curwensville would not give up and stormed back in the top of the fourth.  Olson nailed an RBI-single into right field, bringing in A.J. Bloom.  Two batters later, he would score on an RBI-single by Garrett Shaw, and then Timko would bring Shaw to the plate in the same fashion.  A strikeout by Mo Newkirk ended the inning, but not after the Tide went up 3-2.

In the bottom half of the inning, an RBI-single by R.J. Johnston brought in Dillon Gallagher, tying the game up at 3-3.

Each inning that passed, not one player would make it home.  It became a duel between Timko and Winters as to who would be the winning and losing pitcher, and neither was going down easy.

In the bottom of the 10th, it was when heartbreak hit.

Timko got two quick outs with a groundout by Dalton Bauer a flyout to Groll in right field.  But then, Kirkland McClain would walk on five pitches.  He then stole second, putting a runner in scoring position for Johnston.

That was all he needed.  With a full count, Johnston got the pitch he was waiting for, and blasted the ball into right field.  The Tide outfield tried to make a play on the ball, but once McClain rounded third, it was too late.  He would plant his foot on home plate, and Johnston gave the Dutch the walk-off hit to end a very competitive game between the two schools.

Curwensville is on the road once again on Friday as they face Moshannon Valley.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville  000 300 000 0 – 3 12 4
St. Mary’s  200 100 000 1 – 4 12 0

Curwensville-3

Strickland 5000, Terry 5000, J.B. Stiles 4020, Bloom 5110, Lancaster 4010, Olson 4121, Shaw 3110, Timko 4042, Newkirk 4010, Hryn 0000.  TOTALS 38 3 12 3.

St. Mary’s-4

Johnston 5032, M. Beimel 4100, T. Beimel 5111, Fantechi 4030, N. Bauer 4011, Gallager 5110, D. Bauer 4010, Groll 1000, Winters 3010, McClain 3110.  TOTALS 38 4 12 4.

Pitching

Curwensville:  Olson-5.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO; Timko-4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.
St. Mary’s:  M. Beimel-3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO; T. Beimel-2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO; Winters-5 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.

WP-Winters.  LP-TImko.

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