KANE — One of the longest trips for the Curwensville Golden Tide this season started on Wednesday. The Tide began a month-long road trip of eight consecutive games away from their own diamond. The trip was all the way out to Kane for a contest against the Wolves.
Fans that decided to make the trip on the pleasant spring afternoon got treated to a close game between two excellent pitchers, and got a great helping of excellent defense. At the end of seven innings, Curwensville had fewer hits, but made them count as they achieved a close 2-1 victory.
Starting pitcher Christian Bakaysa had to wait for his opportunity to get on the mound, but did so with a lot of happiness as his team got out to the early lead in the top of the first.
Noah Von Gunden started the game in a huge way, as he got behind in the count early, but suddenly hammered an 0-2 pitch from Ty Stahli to right field for a lead-off double. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch with Jake Mullins at the plate. Although Mullins struck out, it was Avery Francisco making a fielder’s choice, as he would ground out to Austin Jordan at shortstop, but in doing so brought Von Gunden to the plate for the opening run.
Bakaysa then took to the mound in the bottom half of the inning, and got caught in a jam. With one out on the board, Carson Whiteman launched a single to left field, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. After striking out Zach Duck, Stahli came to the plate hoping to get back the one run he yielded in the top half of the inning.
After taking two strikes, he hammered an 0-2 pitch deep into the outfield, curving right to the wall in right field. The ball was deep enough that Whiteman was easily going to make it home. But, Broc Heitsenreather kept his eyes on the ball the entire way onto the warning track and back to the wall, making the grab into his glove, ending the inning in excellent fashion.
It would be the fourth inning when Curwensville got to plate another run as Heitsenreather hit a sacrifice fly in order to bring Jake McCracken to the plate, giving Curwensville the 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Kane finally answered back as a fielding error by Mullins was costly as Duck advanced from second all the way to the plate to cut the lead down to just one run. But, the inning ended as Reese Novosel was caught stealing second.
Bakaysa then continued an excellent day on the mound, finishing five and one-third innings with just the one unearned run, and four strikeouts. His performance was enough give him the win on the afternoon for Curwensville, his first of the season. Stahli went deeper into the game, as he went six innings, striking out seven but giving up the lone two runs in the loss for the Wolves.
Jeremiah Farley took over in the sixth inning, and finished the game to earn his first save of the season.
Curwensville (3-5) continues its stretch of eight consecutive road games on Friday in a Moshannon Valley contest against the Moshannon Valley Black Knights. First-pitch will be slated for 4:30 p.m, weather permitting.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 100 100 0 – 2 2 1
Kane 000 100 0 – 1 5 0
Curwensville – 2
Von Gunden SS 3110, Mullins 2B 3000, Francisco LF 3001, McCracken CF 2110, Evans 1B 2000, Heitsenreather RF/3B 1001, Brown DH 2000, Bakaysa P/RF 2000, Wilson RF 1000, Graham C 1000. TOTALS 20 2 2 2.
Kane – 1
Morris CF 3000, Whiteman LF/P 3020, Duck RF 3110, Stahli P/LF 2000, Novosel 1B 3000, Jekielek 2B 3010, Jordan SS 3000, Avacik C 2000, Peterson C 1000, Holt DH 1000, Costanzo DH 1010. TOTALS 25 1 5 0.
2B: Von Gunden. SAC: Evans. SF: Heitsenreather. HBP: Brown. SB: Whiteman, Duck, Costanzo. CS: McCracken
E: Mullins. Curwensville – 5, Kane – 3.
PITCHING
Curwensville: Bakaysa-5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 SO, 0 BB; Farley-1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 1 BB.
Kane: Stahli-6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 SO, 5 BB; Whiteman-1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
WP-Bakaysa (1-0)
LP-Stahli
SV: Farley (1)
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 5-2, 10 inn. 1 – 3
4/02 HARMONY 11 – 1 2 – 3
4/04 @ Clearfield 2 – 5 2 – 4
4/08 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 4 – 5 2 – 5
4/10 @ Kane 2 – 1 3 – 5
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
