Golden Tide Earn Highest Run and Hit Total in Victory over Kane

CURWENSVILLE — The latter part of the schedule for the Curwensville Golden Tide has many tough games, and after having experienced both a close loss to Moshannon Valley and a 10-run rule loss against DuBois Central Catholic, head coach Tom Harzinski was ready to put the first half of the season behind and focus forward.

In doing so, it started with a return to the home field just outside the Curwensville High School to host an AML-rival, the Kane Wolves.

With weather puckering a bit early on, field conditions still looked strong for game play.  What ended up happening was a different kind of rain.  The Golden Tide started getting the bats working right away, and in doing so saw the rest of the lineup follow suit.  Curwensville never let up in their offensive effort, nailing a season-high 14 hits.  In doing so, the Tide brought home a season-high in runs, putting away Kane in a 16-6 contest that went just five innings and up their record to 3-7 on the season.

“We needed that win.  We had clutch hitting today and hit well with runners in scoring position,” Harzinski said.

The offense got going early in the first inning after lead-off hitter Noah VonGunden reached first on a throwing error, then stole second.  Two batters later, Avery Francisco blasted an RBI-single to center field to put the first run on the board.  Francisco then came home on a throwing error to put the score at 2-0, and then Austin Butlin came up clutch with another RBI-single to bring Timko home, giving Curwensville the early 3-0 lead after the first inning.

Starting pitcher for the Wolves, Ty Stahli, struggled in his outing, as things got extremely worse in the second inning.  It started with a walk to Josh Terry, then VonGunden reached on an error, and Christian Bakaysa then singled to shallow left to load up the bases.

That is when when Francisco came in with the biggest hit of the entire game.  On a two-balls, no strikes pitch, he brought the heat when his swing of the bat launched Stahli’s pitch to deep center field.  Francisco made it to second base, and in doing so cleared the diamond with his three run double to put the game at a 6-0 gap, with two outs on the board.

Just one batter later, Timko added in even more with an RBI single to right-center to bring Francisco to the plate.  After back-to-back strikeouts of Zach McClure and Butlin, Zach Brewer came through with his own RBI-single to center field to bring Timko in.

At that point, the 8-0 score was enough to see the Kane coaching staff pull Stahli off the mound.  His eight runs, only three earned, and four strikeout effort gave him the loss on this day.

On the opposite side, Timko was yet again stellar on the mound.  Through two innings, the sophomore pitcher yielded only two hits.  But, his defining inning was in the third.

Timko gave up his first run after one out to Austin Jordan on an RBI-single that brought Jacob Alcorn home to cut the lead, 8-1.  A walk to Angelo Costanzo and a single to Connor Cowley loaded the bags.  It’s a situation Curwensville has seen a lot this season, but the first time they have been in the same situation with a large lead.

Stahli was next at bat, and loaded the count, only to be struck out swinging.  Bases stayed loaded, but now two outs were marked.

Jacob Silvis then came to the plate, and again loaded the count.  On the 3-2 pitch, the ball caught the corner of the zone, and the plate umpire called the out, getting Timko out of the jam, still with the 8-1 lead.

Harzinski was proud of his pitcher, especially when things were way behind in that inning.

“Bryce did what he needed to do,” he said.  “We expect that of him.  Bryce is a tough kid, tough pitcher, and mentally tough too.  We also had a lot of young guys go out there today, and really filled in the gap for us.”

The bottom of the third inning was the inning that things went extremely well for the Tide.

Jeremiah Farley struck out to start the inning, but the next five batters made relief pitcher Austin Jordan pay for it.  Josh Terry started things off with a single, then a stolen base.  VonGunden then hit the RBI-single on a 1-1 pitch to right field.  Bakaysa then had his second hit of the game, putting runners on first and second.  Francisco then hit a big RBI-double that brought Bakaysa in to score.  Timko then launched the fifth consecutive hit with his own RBI-double to bring Francisco home.

McClure and Butlin also came in on an RBI-single by Terry, and then a two-RBI single by VonGunden that made the score 15-1, and sent Jordan off the mound.

“That’s something we’ve been lacking all year.  We’ve been leaving runners on base too much, and hopefully this is a sign of things to come,” Harzinski said of his team’s hitting.

Bailey Arthur came in with one last out to get, and did so to end the seven-hit inning.

Timko was relieved after his winning effort in his three innings of work, and Bakaysa came in to start the fourth inning.

Unfortunately, things were not all that easy as he hit Cyrus Novosel, then walked both Dominic Cartwright and Garrett Walters to load up the bases.  Alcorn and Jordan then flew out and struck out, but then Costanzo walked to bring in the first run of the inning, cutting the score to 15-2.  Cowley and Stahli then hit a pair of RBI-singles to bring Cartwright and Holt to the plate.  Stahli then hit an RBI-single to bring Costanzo to the plate.  After Silvis struck out for the third time in the game, the score suddenly was 15-5.

Curwensville didn’t score a run in the fourth inning, giving the Wolves a chance to close the gap once again, but with limited chances remaining.

Kane managed one run in the fifth on an RBI-single by Costanzo, cutting the score down to 15-6.  But, Harzinski knew his team only needed to put one run on the board in the bottom of the fifth to close out the afternoon.

Farley was struck out by Arthur, then Terry grounded out.  VonGunden then found his swing again, nailing his third hit in the game with a single to center field.  He then stole second to put himself in scoring position with Broc Heitsenrether coming to the plate.  On a 1-2 pitch, Heitenrether connected, and his hit went to deep left field, giving VonGunden a chance to round the final two bases, and putting the 16th run on the tally, and with the 10-run  rule now in effect, the hit also concluded the stellar Tide victory.

Harzinski was feeling good after seeing what his team accomplished on the afternoon, and knew that it was a deserving victory, but also to be ready to go at it the next day.

“I told them to enjoy this tonight.  We have some momentum going into tomorrow.  We’re going to play Brockway tough because those games usually are a one-run game,” he said.

The game against the Rovers is set for 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday on the Tide home field once again.

SCORE BY INNING

Kane   001 41 – 6 6 5
Curwensville   357 01 – 16 14 2

Kane – 6

Jacob Alcorn SS 2100, Austin Jordan 3B/P/CF 3011, Angelo Costanzo 2B 2110, Connor Crowley C 4021, Ty Stahli P/3B 3012, Jacob Silvis 1B 3000, Cyrus Novosel LF 2100, Dominic Cartwright DH 2110, Caleb Holt CF 2200, Garret Walters PH 0000.  TOTALS 23 6 6 4.

Curwensville – 16

Noah Vongunden SS 5423, Christian Bakaysa RF/P 4220, Broc Heitenstrether P 1011, Avery Francisco LF 4335, Bryce Timko P/RF 3322, Zach McClure 2B 2100, Austin Butlin C 2112, Devan Barrett PH 1000, Zach Brewer 1B 4011, Jeremiah Farley 3B 3000, Jeremy Irwin PH 1000, Josh Terry CF 3221.  TOTALS 33 16 14 15.

E:  Alcorn (3), Jordan, Costanzo; Farley (2).  LOB:  10/7.  2B:  Francisco (2).  HBP:  Alcorn, Novosel; McClure.  SB-Alcorn (2), Novosel (2), Cartwright; Francisco (2), Timko (2), Terry, VonGunden (3).

PITCHING

Kane:  Stahli-1.2 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 BB; Jordan-0.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 K, 0 BB; Arthurs-2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 K, 1 BB.

Curwensville:  Timko-3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB; Bakaysa-1.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 4 BB; Heitenrether-0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB.

WP-Timko (1-2).  LP-Stahli (0-1)

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