WESTOVER — The long week ahead for the Curwensville Golden Tide is one of a lot of challenges on the baseball diamond. With playoff aspirations within reach, the team is hoping to stay healthy as they will get a strong workout over the course of four days. There’s no practice or time to rest, because in those four days, four games will be played.
The first of which meant a trip to Westover to take on the winless Harmony Owls, who were hoping to pull an upset.
Unfortunately, that upset bid ended early, then ended quickly, as Curwensville opened up the lead, and began pouring it on. Add in the fact that the Tide pitchers combined for just two hits allowed, and it was a tough day for the home squad. The Tide officially locked in their playoff berth with a definitive 18-0 victory that took just five innings.
Curwensville decided to look to their undefeated left-handed ace, Bryce Timko, to start on the mound. It ended up being the same song, different verse, because he earned his sixth win of the 2018 campaign in a three-inning outing that saw him strike out eight, and not give up one hit.
Harmony decided to go with Daniel Rorabaugh, and things did not get going from the moment the game began.
After a pair of groundouts, Avery Francisco hammered a single to right field to get on base. Timko then decided to really help his cause. The 1-1 pitch connected, and connected with authority. Traveling nearly the same path as Francisco, the ball went right to the warning track in right field. Francisco made it all the way around from first to score the opening run, while Timko pushed hard to make it to third, where coach Tom Harzinski held him up. The triple was just the beginning as Timko made it home on a fielding error that put Jake McCracken on base. Unfortunately for McCracken, he was tagged out stealing shortly after, ending the inning.
The second inning was almost exactly the same. Zach Brewer opened the inning with a lead-off single, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. A pair of errors from Christian Bakaysa and Jeremiah Farley’s at-bats brought Brewer to the plate to expand the lead to 3-0.
Bakaysa and Noah VonGunden then each added on an unearned run to up the score to 5-0 after one. Meanwhile, Timko continued dealing at the plate and it seemed to not let up.
After both teams made it through the third inning without a run, the fourth inning was when it opened up.
A two-RBI double by Francisco, then a two-RBI single by Brewer, expanded the lead to 9-0 after four innings. PIAA rules dictate that once a team reaches a 10-run lead after five innings, the losing team has to cut the lead down or the game ends. Although Curwensville ended the inning one run short of that mark, the fifth inning the Tide really opened things up.
In the fourth inning, Mike Koblosky took over pitching, and in the fifth inning it was a living nightmare for the Owl reliever.
The tenth run to potentially put the Mercy Rule into effect came on an RBI-single by VonGunden to bring Bakaysa home. Ralph Evans then added another RBI-single that brought in Josh Terry. VonGunden then reached home for the 12th run of the game, his third on the afternoon, and Evans brought in the 13th as well thanks to Francisco’s single to center field.
Things went even worse right after. Timko hammered a RBI-double to the gap between center and right field that brought Francisco home. Timko arrived home on the only unearned run in the inning on a wild pitch, the 15th run and the sixth consecutive in the inning.
With just one out on the board, the 16th run came thanks to Bakaysa’s second at-bat in the inning, an RBI-double.
An RBI-single by Josh Terry then plated Farley, and a fielder’s choice by VonGunden added the 17th and 18th runs on the board. Finally, a ground out by Cole Bressler ended the inning, after 13 batters came to the plate, and nine runs crossed home.
The Mercy Rule was in effect, and it did not take long for the afternoon to come to an end.
Reliever Brock Heitsenrether gave up the lone two hits of the game to Adam Dubyak and Dylan Kurtz, but the pair of runners that were on second and third never got any closer than that, as the game ended on a flyout by Rorabaugh to left field.
Curwensville (8-6) returns home on Tuesday afternoon to host the Vikings of Glendale. The two were slated to face one another on April 16, but weather had a different idea. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 230 49 – 18 16 1
Harmony 000 00 – 0 2 7
Curwensville – 18
VonGunden SS 5323, Evans 2B 4220, Bressler PH 1000, Francisco C 4334, Graham C 0000, Timko P/1B 4222, McCracken LF 3210, Brewer 1B 3122, Heitsenrether P 1000, Farley 3B 4110, Bakaysa RF 4311, Terry CF 4122. TOTALS 37 18 16 14.
Harmony – 0
Kurtz SS 3010, Rorabaugh P/CF 3000, McGarvey 2B 2000, Watson 1B 0000, Tiesi RF 2000, Koblosky CF/P 2000, Elias C 1000, Blake DH/RF 1000, Bailey RF 1000, Dubyak 3B 2010. TOTALS 17 0 2 0.
LOB: Cville – 5; Harmony – 5. E: Farley/Dubyak, McGarvey (4), Blake, Watson. 2B: Bakaysa, Francisco, Timko.
3B: Timko. SB: Evans, Francisco, McCracken, VonGunden (2). CS: McCracken. DP: Evans, Timko
PITCHING
Curwensville: Timko-3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 8 SO, 1 BB; Heitsenrether-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB.
Harmony: Rorabaugh-3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB; Koblosky-2 IP, 13 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB.
WP-Timko (6-0). LP-Rorabaugh (0-3).
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 18 – 0 8 – 6
5/08 @ Glendale
5/09 KANE
5/10 @ Kane
5/15 @ Clearfield
5/16 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH.