Golden Tide Falter Late, Lose 4-3 to Brockway

BROCKWAY — One day after seeing their win streak come to an end at three, head coach Tom Harzinski and the Curwensville Golden Tide loaded up the bus for another road trip.  At the same time, the Tide achieved those three victories while on the road, so possibly being the visiting team was on the Tide’s side.

This road trip was not as long, as the ride on the bus was out to Brockway to take on the Rovers.

Early in the game, Curwensville held their own, getting out to a lead and countering the offense by solid fielding.  However, Brockway found their footing in the late innings.  In the end, the Rovers would get the runs they needed to gain the 4-3 victory.

R.J. Olson took the mound for the Tide after getting some time on Wednesday against Dubois Central Catholic, performing extremely well.  In his five innings of work, he yielded only seven hits.  His opposition from Brockway was Michael Martino, who also put forth a solid outing.

Martino would pitch the complete game, yielding only seven hits and striking out four.

The Rovers looked to be in a major jam in the opening inning as Martino loaded the bases with the first three at-bats.  But, things changed when Bryce Timko went to the plate.  He would launch a ball towards the gap between center and right field.  Corey Carr put his legs to work and would catch the ball on the fly, but the play wasn’t done.  Noah Strickland, who had advanced to third after his walk, a single by Garrett Shaw and another walk by Jake Terry, tagged up in an effort to make it a sacrifice fly and get the Tide on the board.

Carr was having none of it and threw a dart to home plate, right into the glove of Jarrett Esposito to secure the 8-2 double play.  A strikeout by Hunter Lancaster would end the inning.

Curwensville got on the board in the second with Shaw’s RBI-single to plate Olson.  That lead would extend in the top of the fourth.  Strickland connected on an RBI-double to bring home Austin Butlin.  Two batters later, Terry would get the third run in with his RBI-single to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Tide.

All seemed well in hand for the visitors until the bottom of the fifth.

With two outs already on the board, Olson walked Hunter Antonuccio and Zach Foradori.  Martino was next to the plate, and helped his own cause with an RBI-single to get the Rovers on the board.  With runners on the corners, it got dicey.  Martino went after the stolen base, but rather than go for the tag at second, Butlin went for the tag at third, and in doing so almost made the play of the game.  Foradori was nearly caught leaning the opposite direction, but somehow beat the tag and gave the Rovers runners in scoring position at second and third.

Carr then got the right pitch and blasted a ground ball through the center of the infield, bringing both Foradori and Martino to the plate.  Just that quickly, Curwensville went from being up three runs to now locked in a 3-3 contest.

After going scoreless in the top half of the sixth, Olson would face one batter in the bottom half, Braden Martini, whom he gave up a single to.

The latter part of the game was now in the hands of Austin Lansberry.  After a pop out to start his tenure on the hill, Esposito was able to reach base on an error.  Brockway then took Martini off and brought in courtesy runner Zane Puhala, while Cameron Baka came in as a courtesy runner for Esposito.  The theory was to put as much speed on the bases as possible in the hopes that one could make it home to give Brockway the lead.

That decision paid off.

Alex Lindemuth would connect and send the ball to right field.  Olson took over at right field when Lansberry went into pitch, and had the play on the ball.  But, it hit the ground just in front of him and got past.  The hit was enough for an extra base, and to the plate came Puhala, giving Brockway their first lead.

Even though the hit by Lindemuth wasn’t the prettiest, it would be the deciding hit of the game.  Martino took to the mound in the seventh to close out the game and earn the win for Brockway.

Curwensville continues their road trip on Friday with at 4:15 start at Johnsonburg.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville  010 200 0 – 3 7 2
Brockway  000 031 X – 4 8 1

Curwensville – 3

Strickland 2011, Shaw 3021, Terry 3011, Timko 4010, Lancaster 3000, McClure 1000, Olson 2110, Lansberry 4000, Butlin 2100, VonGunden 3110.  TOTALS 27 3 7 3.

Brockway – 4

Antonuccio 3110, Foradori 2110, Baka 1000, Martino 3111, Carr 3032, Isabella 3000, Martini 2110, Shugarts 3000, Esposito 3000, Lindemuth 3011.  TOTALS 26 4 8 4.

E:  Strickland, Terry; Antonuccio.  LOB:  CV-9, BY-7.  2B-Strickland; Carr.  SB-Martino.  CS-Carr.

Pitching

Curwensville:  Olson-5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 K, 3 BB; Lansberry-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB.
Brockway:  Martino-CG, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 6 BB.

W-Martino
L-Olson

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