Golden Tide Give Up Late Runs, Fall to Elk County Catholic

ST. MARYS — Curwensville entered the final week of their month-long road schedule hoping to get on course to get back in the win column.  In order to do that, they had to start with a trip to St. Marys to face off against a team they already saw this year, the Elk County Catholic Crusaders.

The home squad put their ace on the mound, Taylor Boland, and that ultimately was the major story of the game.  Boland gave up one run in the game, but that was his only blemish on the afternoon.  The Crusader pitcher stood tall for seven innings, and pitched a no-hitter as his supporting cast helped him be the winning pitcher in a close, 3-1 contest.

Curwensville got the lead in the first inning in rather unique fashion.  Lead-off batter Jake Mullins walked to start things off, then stole second and advanced to third on an error by Boland during the at-bat of Ralph Evans, who reached second a throwing miscue.  After Avery Francisco was walked to load the bases, Jake McCracken hammered a 1-2 pitch that stayed in the infield as it was fielded by Alec Wehler.

Wehler was able to capture the ball and have it lead into a 6-4-3 double play, but Mullins made it to the plate to give the Tide the early lead.

That run, although unearned, was the only blemish on the stat line for Boland.  He would go on and pitch a complete game, giving up that lone run, but would not let any Tide player earn a hit on the afternoon.  He walked five, but struck out seven to keep his record unblemished on the season.

Tide pitcher Christian Bakaysa started the afternoon decent through the first two innings, giving up only one hit.

When it was the bottom of the third, Elk County Catholic tied things up with an unearned run of their own.  A groundout by Tylor Herzing allowed Dan Wimer to make it home to tie the game.  The third inning came to a close on a spectacular play by the Tide defense.  With Boland on third, after he hit a ground-rule double to right and advanced to third on the groundout, Will Uberti came to the plate and lofted an 0-1 pitch to shallow center field.  But, shortstop Noah Von Gunden got the ball for the second out, and then threw home to prevent the second run.

Boland got caught in a rundown as he tried to get back to third, but then turned around and sprinted as hard as he could to get home.  Chase Graham made the tag to complete the 6-5-2 double play, and keep the game tied.

That score remained until the bottom of the fifth, as Bakaysa began to struggle.  He ultimately gave up an RBI-single to Boland that brought Wimer home, then Uberti followed suit with a similar hit to bring Boland in, giving the Crusaders the lead.

Bakaysa would go four and a third innings in the loss, giving up three runs, one earned, and striking out three in the loss.

Jeremiah Farley came in and pitched the remaining innings for the Tide, striking out one but walking zero.

Curwensville’s last opportunity in the seventh inning was a quick exit as Boland struck out Matt Brown and Keegan Wilson, then Graham lined out to third to close the action.

Hoping to get back on the right side of the scoreboard, the Golden Tide (3-8) have little time to recover as they will face DuBois Central Catholic on Tuesday with a 4:15 p.m. start time.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville  100 000 0 – 1 0 3
Elk Co. Catholic  001 020 X – 3 4 2

Curwensville – 1

Mullins 2B 1100, Evans 1B 3000, Francisco LF 1000, McCracken CF 3000, Von Gunden SS 2000, Heitsenrether DH 2000, Bressler RF 2000, Brown 3B 1000, Bakaysa P/RF 2000, Wilson PH 1000, Graham C 3000.  TOTALS 21 1 0 0.

Elk County Catholic – 3

Herzing 3B 1001, Uberti CF 3021, Cashmer RF 3000, Fedus 1B 3000, Fritz LF 2000, Wehler SS 3000, Brennen C 3000, Wimer DH 2100, DePrator DH 0100, Boland P 2021, Slay PH 0100.  TOTALS 22 3 4 3.

2B:  Boland, SAC:  Heitsenrether. DP:  Wehler, Fedus, SB:  Mullins, CS:  Fritz, E:  Evans, Farley, Von Gunden/Fedus, Boland, Cville – 5, ECC – 4

PITCHING

Curwensville:  Bakaysa-4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; Farley-1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.

Elk County Catholic:  Boland-CG, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 7 SO, 5 BB.

WP-Boland (3-0)
LP-Bakaysa (1-1)

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 ppd. 3 – 5
4/15 @ West Branch ppd. 3 – 5
4/16 @ Punxsutawney 4 – 14 3 – 6
4/17 @ West Branch ppd. 3 – 6
4/18 @ Johnsonburg 0 – 8 3 – 7
4/22 @ Elk County Catholic 1 – 3 3 – 8
4/23 @ DuBois Central Catholic
4/25 @ Brockway
5/06 WEST BRANCH
5/07 KANE
5/09 GLENDALE
5/13 CLEARFIELD
5/14 @ West Branch
5/15 JOHNSONBURG