Golden Tide Falter Late as Cardinals Soar to Victory

CURWENSVILLE — It may not have felt like baseball weather, but fans decided to pull out the heavier jackets and blankets in order to see the first home game of the Curwensville Golden Tide season on Tuesday afternoon.  The opposition on the chilly day came from the Cardinals of DuBois Central Catholic.

Early on, strong defense and timely hitting got the home team out to the early lead.  But soon, the Cardinals pulled even, and then put on the thumping with one inning remaining as the visiting Cardinals flew to victory in an 8-2 final.

Starting pitcher Christian Bakaysa was strong through the first four innings of work, pitching a shut out and only yielding three hits.  His teammates helped out in the bottom of the third when the scoring began with a deep RBI-single by Avery Francisco to right field brought Jake Mullins home after Mullins moved to second on a wild pitch by the Cardinals.

With only one out on the board, the Cardinals swapped pitchers as Anthony Kness went to the dugout and Dom Torretti was brought from left field to take over on the mound.

He would give up the second run of the game in the fourth, but it was one that didn’t even require a swing of the bat.

Jeremiah Farley started the inning after being struck by a 3-1 pitch, then stole second and rounded to third on a single by VonGunden.  With Mullins at the plate, Torretti was in his windup with runners on the corners, when he suddenly made the look to first for the potential pick off.  Umpires halted play, calling the balk.  VonGunden moved to second, while Farley walked home to give the Tide the 2-0 advantage.

One inning later, the Cardinals got things rolling.

Zach Edwards walked to start the inning, then advanced to second on a Brandon Walker single.  Unfortunately, following a wild pitch, Edwards got picked off heading to third, but Walker soon advanced to second on a walk to Jake Miknis.  Garrett Prosper tied the game in a big way as with two outs on the board, he drilled a ball to the right field wall, which sent both Walker and Miknis to the plate.  Prosper tried to go for third, but was tagged out hard, but not before the game was tied up at two a piece.

The sixth inning, though, doomed the Golden Tide.  Bakaysa was relieved by VonGunden following the fourth inning, but struggled mightily in the sixth, as did the Curwensville defense.  Torretti led off with a single just past the infield dirt, then Cole Sansom floated a single to right.  After each stole a base to put runners on second and third, Damon Foster blasted a full count shot to center, bringing in Torretti and giving the visitors the lead.  Walker then hammered a single in the gap between left and center to bring home Sansom.

The final two runs, and the final out, came on a very tough deal for both teams.  Noah Bloom connected on an 0-1 pitch down the third-base line, and it connected with Farley, but not in a good way.  The third baseman fell to the ground in pain, rolling out of the way as the ball laid on the ground.  Both Foster and Walker scored, but Bloom was tagged out as he charged for second.

Although the sides changed, head coach Tom Harzinski and his staff, along with the Cardinals coaches, all came over to check on Farley, who got up covering his face as he headed to the dugout, knowing his day was over in unfortunate fashion.

The Cardinals got two more runs in the final inning when Miknis scored on a fielding error, and Prosper came in on a tag up, ending the scoring.

Curwensville (0-3) is back in action on Thursday with a 4:15 p.m. first pitch as they will play host to the Brockway Rovers.

SCORE BY INNING

D.C. Catholic  000 024 2 – 8 10 1
Curwensville  001 100 0 – 2 6 3

Dubois Central Catholic – 8

Walker CF 4231, Bloom SS 4022, Miknis C 1210, Prosper 1B 4112, Torretti LF/P 3110, Sansom RF 2110, Armanini RF 1001, Foster 2B 3111, Spellen 2B 1001, Downer 3B 3000, Adair 3B 1000, Edwards DH 1000, Macintosh LF 1000.  TOTALS 29 8 10 8.

Curwensville – 2

VonGunden SS/P/2B 4010, Mullins 2B/SS 4110, Francisco LF/1B/RF 3011, McCracken CF 2000, Evans 1B/2B 3010, Heitsenreather EH/DH 3000, Bakaysa P/RF 2010, Farley 3B 1000, Bloom PR 0000, Straw PR 0100, Brown 3B/PH 1010, Irwin RF 1000, Wilson PH 1000.  TOTALS 25 2 6 1.

E:  Kness/Evans, Francisco, VonGunden. 2B:  Bloom, Prosper. SAC:  Irwin. SB:  Torretti, Sansom, Foster
CS:  Macintosh/Bakaysa. HBP:  Bloom

PITCHING

D.C. Catholic:  Kness-2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB; Torretti-4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB.

Curwensville:  Bakaysa-4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 3 BB; VonGunden-2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 SO, 3 BB; Vance-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.

WP-Torretti (1-0)
LP-VonGunden (0-2)

Golden Tide Scoreboard:

Date Opponent Score Record
3/22 Deer Lakes @ S. Carolina 5 – 9 0 – 1
3/23 Lakeview @ S. Carolina 4 – 9 0 – 2
3/26 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH. 2 – 8 0 – 3
3/28 BROCKWAY
4/02 HARMONY
4/04 @ Clearfield
4/08 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
4/10 @ Kane
4/12 @ Mo Valley
4/15 @ West Branch
4/16 @ Punxsutawney
4/18 @ Johnsonburg
4/22 @ Elk County Catholic
4/23 @ DuBois Central Catholic
4/25 @ Brockway
5/06 WEST BRANCH
5/07 KANE
5/09 GLENDALE
5/13 CLEARFIELD
5/15 JOHNSONBURG