CURWENSVILLE — Coming off of an enormous win over rival Moshannon Valley 1-0, the Golden Tide were itching to get back into action. Knowing they have control in their future, they came back onto the same diamond to take on a team that just about a week ago, provided a devastating loss when Curwensville had what head coach Tom Harzinski called a “fluke” game.
Six errors against the Brockway Rovers in their first meeting led to a 7-3 loss, with five runs scored in the final inning.
Hoping to even the series for this season, the Tide decided to go with their ace pitcher, Bryce Timko on the mound. Brockway elected to go with Tino Inzana, his first start of the season.
On this day, Timko had to follow up a performance that saw him give up only one hit, and strike out 13.
Not only did he put forth an encore performance, it was better than his last start. Timko put on his best performance of the 2018 season, going nearly the entire game, giving up for the second straight game just one hit, but striking out a season-high 17 of 23 batters, allowing his teammates to put forth a much different defensive performance. The team committed no errors, but connected on offense just enough to win a low scoring 3-1 effort.
Curwensville broke open the scoring early in the first inning thanks to some timely hitting.
After Noah VonGunden walked to start the inning, Ralph Evans hit a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the Curwensville shortstop to second. Avery Francisco then blasted the 0-1 pitch over second base and into the gap between right and center field. VonGunden put on the speed and tagged home to put Curwensville on the board.
Francisco then made his way home on a sacrifice fly from Timko, giving an early lead that he not only enjoyed working with, but made the most of.
Over the next five innings, Timko only saw three batters a piece, frustrating the Rovers as they tried everything to connect on what was being hurled from the Tide ace’s left arm. Every strikeout that Timko hurled came with the batter making an attempt to swing at the ball. Through six innings, the Curwensville senior pitched a no-hitter, and the crowd was excited to see him close the deal.
Curwensville added another run in the bottom of the fifth in unearned fashion when Josh Terry trotted home on a fielding error.
The seventh inning started off strong for Timko when Inzana ground out to VonGunden, who managed to get the throw to Zach Brewer in time for the first out of the inning. But then, following a couple foul-offs, Matt Clark finally connected on a 1-2 pitch that bounced into right field for a double, which put an end to the no-hitter, and immediately put a runner in scoring position. Closing in on the pitch limit, coach Tommy Harzinski looked to Jake McCracken to close the deal. With Angelo Inzana at the plate, McCracken then tossed a wild pitch that advanced Clark to third and Inzana eventually struck out.
He then walked Zach Foradori, then gave up a single to Ben Grecco, which brought in pinch runner Connor Ford for the Rover’s lone run.
McCracken then faced Tyler Serafini with the tying runs on base. Serafini connected on an 0-2 pitch to right field, where Christian Bakaysa was waiting. The fly ball went right into his glove, and the game was over.
Curwensville (7-5) takes to the road on Tuesday they will face Elk County Catholic. These two faced off earlier in the season on April 10, a game that originally was slated to be in St. Mary’s but because of field conditions, the games were swapped and it was played at Curwensville High School. The start time remains the same, at 4:15 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Brockway 000 000 1 – 1 2 2
Curwensville 200 010 X – 3 2 0
Brockway – 1
Puhala LF 3000, Glasl 2B 2000, T. Inzana P 3000, Clark 3B 2010, Ford PR 0100, A. Inzana CF 3000, Foradori RF 2000, Grecco DH 3011, Serafini SS 3000, D. Inzana C 2000. TOTALS 23 1 2 1.
Curwensville – 3
VonGunden SS 1011, Evans 2B 0000, Francisco C 3122, Timko P/LF 1001, McCracken LF/P 3000, Brewer 1B 2000, Bakaysa RF 3000, Heitsenrether DH 1000, Farley PH 2000, Terry CF 1100. TOTALS 17 3 2 3.
LOB: Bway – 4, Cville – 5. E: Clark, Serafini. 2B: Clark. SAC: Evans (2). SF: Timko. SB: Glasl/Francisco, Terry. CS: McCracken. HBP: Brewer, VonGunden.
PITCHING
Brockway: T. Inzana-6 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 SO, 4 BB.
Curwensville: Timko-6.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 17 SO, 2 BB; McCracken-0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
WP-Timko (5-0)
LP-T. Inzana (0-1)
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 2 – 7 5 – 4
4/24 @ Brockway 3 – 7 5 – 5
4/26 MO VALLEY 1 – 0 6 – 5
4/30 BROCKWAY 3 – 1 7 – 5
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.