Early Runs Cost Curwensville in Home Loss to Punxsutawney

CURWENSVILLE — It wasn’t exactly baseball temperatures, but it was the first time in a week that the baseball diamond at the Curwensville high school saw sunlight beating down.  The blue skies welcomed in the fans as the Golden Tide took to their own field to face off with fellow a District IX foe, the Punxsutawney Chucks.

After a strong win the afternoon prior, the Tide looked to continue their streak and keep themselves in the discussion of being one of the more challenging teams to face this season.

Punxsutawney was up to the challenge, and struck early.  Singl runs in the opening innings put Curwensville in an early hole, and as the game wore on, the bats were not connecting.  Curwensville faltered, ultimately losing a heartbreaker in a 2-1 final.

Things got off on the wrong foot early for starting Tide pitcher Noah VonGunden.  A lead-off walk and a stolen base put Tyler Richardson on second.  Brandon Matthews then singled into center to put runners at the corners, and VonGunden in a bind early in the game.

It didn’t take long for the bind to end when Isaac Stouffer, who started the game on the mound for the Chucks, lined the 1-2 pitch into left field to bring home the RBI to start the scoring.

The second inning did not go any better for VonGunden.  Daren Byers led off with a single to the right field corner, then moved to second on a walk.  Two batters later, Alec Greenblatt blasted a 0-1 ball into right field, pulling in the RBI to put the Chucks ahead, 2-0.

VonGunden only lasted through the first three innings, striking out three and walking three in the loss.

Curwensville did not quit, and in the bottom of the fourth decided to make a game of it.  With Bryce Timko on second, Jake McCracken found his mark on a 2-1 pitch from Greenblatt, who came in to relieve Stouffer after his three innings of work, and blasted the ball to the fence in right field.  The opposite field hit was an RBI-double to bring Timko to the plate, and cutting the lead in half gave the Tide hope.

As the innings progressed, despite two new pitchers coming in, the Tide had many missed opportunities.

With runners in scoring position, the Tide had two missed chances to get runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, but each inning ended with either great fielding by Punxsutawney, or a swing and miss from Curwensville.

The play of the day came in the seventh inning that prevented Punxsutawney from padding the lead.  With the bases loaded and one out on the board, Andrew Britton blasted a 3-1 pitch straight to Jeremiah Farley.  Thinking quick, he threw to home where Avery Francisco tagged the plate, preventing the score, and immediately turned and hurled the ball to first where Zach Brewer was waiting and pulled in the catch, closing out the inning with a very slick 5-2-3 double play, and giving Curwensville some momentum into the final inning of the game.

Following Christian Bakaysa’s strikeout and Josh Terry’s ground out, Mason Gasper took to first base after Ralph Evans walked.  It was now on Avery Francisco’s shoulders to get on base so the game could continue.  After two foul tips, Greenblatt hurled a 2-2 slider to the plate.  Francisco saw the ball go by, as did the umpire, and called the third strike, and the third out, causing the Tide to fall in defeat and wonder what they could have done differently.

Curwensville (5-3) will remain at home to begin the week as they will welcome in the Clearfield Bison on Monday afternoon.  First pitch is set for 4:15 p.m.

SCORE BY INNING

Punxsutawney  110 000 0 – 2 8 1
Curwensville  000 100 0 – 1 5 0

Punxsutawney – 2

Richardson SS 2100, Matthews DH 4010, Stouffer P 3011, Young RF 1000, Johnston 3B 3000, Huey 1B 3000, Byers 3B 3130, Neal C 1000, Britton RF/2B4010, Greenblatt 2B/P 3021, Knarr CR 0000.  TOTALS 27 2 8 2.

Curwensville – 1

Terry SS/P/CF 4000, Evans PH 3000, Gasper CR 0000, Francisco C 4010, Timko PH 2100, VonGunden P/SS 2010, McCracken CF/P 3011, Heitsenrether RF 3010, Bressler DH/RF0000, Farley 3B 2000, Bakaysa LF 3010.  TOTALS 26 1 5 1.

LOB:  P – 12, Cville – 8; ER:  Richardson; 2B:  McCracken;GIDP:  Britton; SB:  Matthews, Richardson/Terry, VonGunden; CS:  Stouffer

PITCHING

Punxsutawney:  Stouffer-3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB; Greenblatt-4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 SO, 4 BB.

Curwensville:  VonGunden-3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; Terry-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB; McCracken-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 3 BB.

WP-Stouffer (2-0). LP-VonGunden (2-3). SV-Greenblatt (1)

Golden Tide Scoreboard:

Date Opponent Score Record
3/23 @ Broadalbin-Perth, NY 1 – 2, 8 inn. 0 – 1
3/24 @ Friends Select School, PA 9 – 2 1 – 1
3/27 BROCKWAY ppd. 1 – 1
3/29 @ Punxsutawney ppd. 1 – 1
4/05 @ Elk County Catholic ppd. 1 – 1
4/06 @ West Branch 3 – 0 2 – 1
4/09 @ Johnsonburg ppd. 2 – 1
4/10 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 5 – 3 3 – 1
4/14 JOHNSONBURG 2 – 5 3 – 2
4/14 JOHNSONBURG 5 – 0 4 – 2
4/16 @ Glendale ppd. 4 – 2
4/17 @ Kane ppd. 4 – 2
4/19 @ DuBois Central Catholic 3 – 0 5 – 2
4/20 PUNXSUTAWNEY 1 – 2 5 – 3
4/23 CLEARFIELD
4/24 @ Brockway
4/26 MO VALLEY
4/30 BROCKWAY
5/01 @ Elk County Catholic
5/07 @ Harmony
5/08 @ Glendale
5/09 KANE
5/10 @ Kane
5/15 @ Clearfield
5/16 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH.