ST. MARYS — The Curwensville Golden Tide found themselves on the brink of officially locking themselves into post-season play on the baseball diamond after Monday’s victory. With a two-game winning streak going, having yielded just two hits and one run in that span, Tom Harzinski and his team loaded up for a long ride on the bus.
The destination, the St. Mary’s High School to take on fellow league competitor, the Elk County Catholic Crusaders.
Both teams felt ready for the game, and after warmups finished, the two squads went to work, ready for competition. For both teams, one inning defined the game, and it was the Tide who felt the agony of a rough time. For the second time this season Curwensville lost the lead in the final inning, not able to come back, and in the end the Tide fell to the Crusaders, 12-6.
In the bottom of the first inning Isaac Brock got things going for the hosts with a lead-off single off of starting Tide pitcher Noah VonGunden. Alec Wehler would bring him to the plate two batters later on an RBI-single to deep left field. Dan Wimer then brough Wehler home for the second run of the game, hitting the RBI-single to almost the exact same place that Wehler did two at-bats prior. Wimer eventually scored the third run of the inning, unearned, to give the Crusaders the 3-0 lead after one.
Curwensville evened things up in the third, starting on an RBI-single from VonGunden to plate Josh Terry. Avery Francisco then hammered a line drive up the dirt to left field in order for VonGunden to make it home.
Jake McCracken then added in the tying run with a soaring RBI-single to left field on an 0-1 pitch, from Crusader starting pitcher Brady Schneider.
The back-and-forth game continued in the fourth as Elk County Catholic plated two runs, the first on a hit into left field from Alex Fedus to bring Ryan Fritz home. Fedus then came home himself on a ground out fielder’s choice from Brennan Klawuhn.
But the Tide would not go away, tying the game in the fifth in the best way possible. Ralph Evans walked on four straight pitches, bringing Francisco to the plate. Behind in the count, Francisco was using his power to try and get under the pitch. The fourth pitch got tipped, the fifth pitch then hooked the line, foul. However, on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Francisco connected. He connected so hard, it became a first for the entire team. Francisco connected. It went long, and far. It was gone, over the left field wall. The first home run of Curwensville’s 2018 campaign brought in the tying runs to lock up the game at five runs each.
That didn’t last long because in the bottom of the inning, Curwensville gave up an unearned run thanks to a walk, bringing Wehler to the plate.
Curwensville just would not go away, and in the top of the sixth, Noah VonGunden managed to reach first on an error, and Christian Bakaysa took advantage to make it home. With the score knotted at six runs each, Curwensville had McCracken come to the mound to take over pitching duties. However, the bottom of the sixth proved to be chaos, and calamity, for the visiting squad.
It started well with a quick ground out, but then Brock came out with a single, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Will Uberti then went to first when he got hit on a 3-1 pitch. Wehler then made it to first on an error by VonGunden, loading up the bases. Hunter Cashmer then started the scoring off with a deep single to right field, bringing Brock home to make the score 7-6. A batter later, Wimer found the gap between second and third, bringing home the second straight run.
Things quickly went downhill thanks to four more runs, two earned. Wehler made it home on a fielding error, followed by both Hunter Cashmer and Wimer coming home on an RBI-single by Jordan Deprator. With the score 11-6, Fedus reached on another error by VonGunden, with Deprator scoring on the play, the sixth run of the inning and the second that was unearned.
With the score at 12-6, Wehler came to the mound after taking over in the sixth inning with hopes of closing it out to win his second game of the year.
Three consecutive ground outs did just that, giving the Crusaders the win, splitting the series with the Tide on the season.
At 7-6, Curwensville now has a long break until they hit the diamond again, with four games in four days slated for next week. It all begins on Monday when they go on the road to face Glendale. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 003 021 0 – 6 4 6
Elk Co. Catholic 300 216 X – 12 11 2
Curwensville – 6
VonGunden P/SS 4111, Evans 2B 2100, Francisco C 4223, Timko LF/1B 3000, McCracken CF/P 4011, Brewer 1B 3000, Farley 3B 1000, Bakaysa RF/LF 3100, Terry SS/CF 2100. TOTALS 26 6 4 5.
Elk County Catholic – 12
Brock 3B/SS 5220, Uberti CF 3110, Wehler SS/P 3311, Cashmer RF 3111, Wimer DH/3B 4222, Schneider P 3000, Deprator 2B 1112, Fritz LF 3111, Fedus 1B 4112, Klawuhn C 2011, Tylor C 2000. TOTALS 33 12 11 10.
LOB: Cville – 5, ECC – 7. E: Farley, Terry, VonGunden (4)/Wimer, Brock. 2B: Uberti. HR: Francisco. FC: Schneider. SAC: Evans. HBP: Uberti. SB: Bakaysa, Francisco, Terry/Wehler, Uberti
PITCHING
Curwensville: VonGunden-4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB; McCracken-2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 0 SO, 3 BB.
Elk County Catholic: Schneider-5 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 SO, 5 BB; Wehler-2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.
WP-Wehler (2-2). LP-McCracken (1-1)
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 6 – 12 7 – 6
5/07 @ Harmony
5/08 @ Glendale
5/09 KANE
5/10 @ Kane
5/15 @ Clearfield
5/16 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH.