CURWENSVILLE — After having won seven straight games by many different ways, the Curwensville Golden Tide were feeling so confident in all aspects of the game that they were eager to immediately be back on the diamond. The Blue Devils from Bellwood-Antis came in ready for battle, and they gave every fan in attendance a game to remember.
A back-and-forth game that saw very few miscues, tough batting, strong pitching, came down to the wire. And in the end, the Golden Tide rallied to pull off the 5-4 victory.
“This was a great baseball game from both teams,” Curwensville head coach Tom Harzinski said afterwards. “We got behind there in the early going, but not one player in the dugout or on the field lost confidence in themselves, nor worried about whether we could rally. Bellwood’s record doesn’t reflect how good they are, and they put up a battle.”
It was the Blue Devils that managed to put runs on the board first in the third inning. Tide pitcher Shane Sunderlin gave up a pair of singles to start the inning, with Nicholas Kost managing to move to third on a wild pitch, along with Josh Dorminy moving into second. Designated hitter Cooper Guyer then hammered a 1-1 pitch to center field, which was pulled down for the out, but it allowed the first run to open up the scoring. One batter later, Jack Luensmann blasted a 3-1 pitch right up the first baseline, enough for an RBI-single to put the second run on the board. Sunderlin got out of the inning with just the 2-0 deficit, but immediately Harzinski and the rest of the coaches huddled the team, got them calmed down, and refocused for the bottom half of the third.
With one out, Jake Mullins managed to get on base on a walk, then stole second. Sunderlin reached base when Matt Berkowitz couldn’t make a strong throw to first for the out. He would steal second while Spencer Hoover loaded the count, only to be struck in the back and giving the Tide runners on all the bags.
One batter later, Jayson Rowles caught an RBI-single that just made it past the dirt in between second and third, then Aiden Sutika followed that up with his own RBI-single into shallow left. As quickly as the visitors had the lead, Curwensville evened things up just as fast.
That didn’t stop the Blue Devils as they would get the lead back in the fourth as a fielding error cost the Tide one run, as Berkowitz worked his way around from second. Then a sacrifice fly by Guyer added the fourth run to the tally.
Luensmann added a single into left field before stealing second, putting another runner in position. But, Vinny Caccioti would rope a 2-1 shot up to third base, where Sutika snagged it in his glove and sent the teams to the dugout to swap sides.
Curwensville’s first opportunity to get a run back was in the bottom of the inning. Mullins reached base on an error, but it allowed Chris Fegert to round the bases for a run to cut the lead to 4-3. Thad Butler flew out on the first pitch he saw to center field, but the bigger miscue came from Mullins as he was already heading for third, and forgot to tag back up at second. By the time he got back, the out was already called for a rare 8-6 double play to end the inning.
Sunderlin managed to finish out the fifth inning in strong fashion, as a put out, strike out and line out eventually would be his final pitches for the afternoon.
In the sixth inning, the Curwensville coaches decided on a pitching change, moving Tyler Lee from second to the hill, then Logan Kunkle would head to second, and finally Sunderlin to first. The change worked as Lee would only give up a single, while his teammates played strong defense to head into the bottom of the inning just down by one.
That inning is when the Tide began to rise.
Up to that point, Luensmann had a decent outing on the hill for the Blue Devils. But, his pitch count was getting high as he entered the sixth inning already at 86. After walking Lee, Kunkle came to the plate and battled tooth and nail. He loaded the count to the point where it was still 3-2 after eight pitches as foul tips would keep the freshman at the plate. Finally, at pitch nine, Kunkle saw the one he wanted, and took the shot directly to shallow center field, putting runners on first and second.
“That sequence for Logan, that was a difference,” Harzinski said. “He battled hard and got their pitcher to yield, and it got us going.”
The Blue Devil coaches decided then, due to the count, to pull Luensmann. His five-inning effort only saw him give up three runs, but strike out five. In his place Berkowitz came to the hill to take over, trying to close it out.
Fegert was the first batter he saw, and he took a chance to bunt the ball in hopes of getting the tying run closer to the plate. He not only managed a perfect bunt just up the line to third, but the throw was too late to first, and with zero outs on the board the bases suddenly were loaded.
Berkowitz managed to strike out Mullins, leading to Thad Butler coming to the plate, having only gone 1-for-3 at that point in the afternoon. But, his final at-bat would be the one to make all the difference.
One pitch…one swing…one powerful blast to left field that just missed the glove of Tanner Swogger. Butler made it to second, Fegert went to third, while Kunkle and courtesy runner Grant Swanson, looped around to give the reliever a two-RBI double, putting the Tide ahead by one with only one out on the board. The next two batters would be dropped, but the change gave Curwensville energy they hadn’t felt since the game was tied.
“That bunt to load the bases, that was clutch and huge by Chris, then Thad to come up big with that double, just a credit to him to not giving up,” Harzinski said.
In the seventh, Lee’s chance to close it out and earn the win for himself and the team started with a pop fly by Luensmann, then another one by Vinny Caccioti. Zach Pier would get on base on a single to Mullins, who couldn’t get the throw in time. Courtesy runner Connor Gibbons took over and stole second, giving pinch hitter Alex Kovac an opportunity to extend the game to the bottom half of the seventh.
He would not do so, grounding out to Sutika, who then tossed the ball to Sunderlin at first, to close out the come-from-behind victory. Lee’s two innings of relief gave him the win, while Berkowitz got tagged with the loss.
Hitting the midway point of the season with a 9-1 record felt good to Harzinski, but literally immediately after addressing his team afterwards, his mindset had already shifted.
“Winning the last eight is great, but it’s all about the next one,” he said. “That’s what we’re focused on.”
That next one comes Tuesday afternoon as the Tide will travel to face Williamsburg, the same team they faced to start the season back on April 5th, taking a 5-2 victory. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Bellwood-Antis 002 200 0 – 4 10 3
Curwensville 002 102 X – 5 7 1
Bellwood-Antis – 4
Nicholas Kost-2B/SS 4120, Josh Dorminy-CF 3220, Cooper Guyer-DH 3002, Jack Luensmann-P/1B 4031, Vinny Caccioti-1B/3B 4010, Zach Pier-C 4020, Connor Gibbons-CR 0000, Gaven Ridgway-RF 2000, Alex Kovac-PH 1000, Tanner Swogger-LF 3000, Matt Berkowitz-SS/P 1100, Andrew Nycum-PH 1000, Nate Rabenstein-CR 0000. TOTALS 30 4 10 3.
Curwensville – 5
Jake Mullins-SS 3110, Thad Butler-LF 4012, Shane Sunderlin-P/1B 4010, Spencer Hoover-C 2000, Jayson Rowles-RF 3001, Logan Kunkle-DH/2B 3120, Tyler Lee-2B/P 2000, Chris Fegert-CF 3110, Grant Swanson-CR 0200. TOTALS 27 5 7 4.
- LOB: 9/7
- E: Kost, Gonzalez, Berkowitz/Lee
- ROE: Butler, Mullins, Sunderlin
- 2B: Pier/Butler
- SF: Guyer
- FC: Pier/Rowles-2, Fegert, Sunderlin
- HBP: Hoover-2
- DP: Dorminy, Kost, Caccioti, Berkowitz-2
- GIDP: Sutika
- SB: Gibbons/Fegert, Mullins, Swanson
PITCHING
Bellwood-Antis: Luensmann-5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 SO, 2 BB; Berkowitz-1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
Curwensville: Sunderlin-5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; Lee-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.
W-Lee
L-Berkowitz
