Curwensville Bats Light Up Kane to Capture First Win of 2016 Season

KANE — The early season woes of the Curwensville Golden Tide baseball squad have been difficult to overcome.  Slow starts on the diamond have the black and gold squad winless in three games.  To complicate matters, the weather has postponed the team in three of their last four outings.

Finally, the weather cleared out to have perfect conditions for baseball, and the Tide loaded up the bus to make the long journey to face the Kane Wolves.

The time off did the entire squad wonders, because for seven innings, it seemed the Tide were in their groove.

Curwensville’s bats were connecting in every way possible, while the defense managed to gel at the right moments.  Pitching was phenomenal, and in the end it meant the Tide was able to clinch a decisive 15-3 victory to erase the goose egg on their record.

Bryce Timko would get the nod on this occasion to start on the mound, and the lefty was on target from his first pitch to the last.  In a complete game where he threw 121 pitches, the sophomore would earn his first win of 2016, giving up just six hits, two walks, and striking out 11 of the 26 batters he faced.

But on this day, it was the offense that gets the most credit.

The Tide scoring would start in the first inning when a groundout by Jake Terry brought in Noah Strickland for the early 1-0 lead.  After going scoreless in the second, Curwensville dug in the spikes and let the bats do the talking when the third inning came about.  Four runs in the inning were enough for the Wolves to make a pitching change.

After giving up three of those runs, Cyrus Novosel was taken from the mound.  His two and two-thirds innings of work saw him give up a total of four runs, all earned, while striking out two and walking six.  He would be tagged with the loss.

Kane got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth.  Sean Phillips began the comeback attempt with an RBI-single to plate Ange Costanzo.  Austin Jordan grounded out, but it was enough to bring in Ty Stahli, and finally another RBI-single from Novosel  would plate Connor Crowley.  It was the lone inning that Timko was tested, finding himself behind most of the time.  But a strikeout from Tanner Morehead ended the inning, and ultimately the scoring for the Wolves.

The top of the sixth inning ultimately would be the beginning of the end for Kane.  Jordan had come on in relief with one out remaining in the third, holding Curwensville to just one run over the span of the next two and one-third innings.  But, when RJ Olson hit his RBI-single to start the scoring, the Tide dugout could feel it.  Five runs later, Curwensville could taste victory.

To add even more insurance, the Tide would plate another four in the seventh inning.  Morehead came in to throw the final inning.  The bases were loaded when Olson was walked, increasing the lead to 12-3.  Three more runs would come in, only one being earned. Timko then did his job in the bottom half of the inning, giving the visiting squad their first taste of victory this season.

Curwensville (1-3) is hoping to keep the momentum going as they are back on the road Friday afternoon as they will face Glendale.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Curwensville  104 015 4 – 15 15 2
Kane  000 300 0 – 3 6 0

Curwensville – 15

Strickland 3323, Shaw 6034, Ja. Terry 5111, Timko 4120, Lancaster 3230, Olson 3322, VonGunden 3201, McClure 3111, Francisco 2211.  TOTALS 32 15 15 13.

Kane – 3

Morehead 4000, Costanzo 4000, Crowley 3110, Stahli 3120, Phillips 3121, Jordan 2001, Novosel 3011, Silvis 0000, Buzard 1000, Zilkofski 3000.  TOTALS 26 3 6 3.

ERRORS:  Olson, VonGunden. LOB:  CV-11; KN-6. 2B:  Lancaster, McClure. 3B:  Strickland. HBP:  Francisco
SAC:  Jordan.

Pitching

Curwensville:  Timko-7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 11 K, 2 BB.
Kane:  Novosel-2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 6 BB; Jordan-3.1 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 2 K, 6 BB; Morehead-1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 K, 2 BB.

WP-Timko. LP-Novosel.

Golden Tide Scoreboard: