MOUNT UNION — After having an afternoon that saw their game only go three innings and plate 17 runs the day before, the Curwensville Golden Tide were hungry to get back on the baseball diamond. They had that opportunity on Thursday, although it meant an early start to a bus ride, as they would travel to take on the Mount Union Trojans. The reason for the early ride: the Tide and Trojans were playing a double-header to make up for postponements.
One day earlier, the Tide put up double digits in only three innings. Both games would go longer than that, but not the way Curwensville hoped. Each game the Tide struggled in the batter’s box, and were getting pounced on by the Mount Union offense. In the end, both games hit the 10-run mercy rule, and Curwensville dropped both to the Trojans, 11-1 and 12-1, dropping Curwensville’s record to 12-4.
The Trojans were the home squad for the first game, and quickly got to work as Cameron Donaldson nabbed an RBI-double to plate Bryce Danish. Curwensville got back in the third inning when Spencer Hoover connected on an RBI-single to left field, bringing in Jake Mullins to tie up the game.
At that point, pitcher Dayvon Wilson went to work, and shut down the entire Tide offense from that point forward. His game one victory saw him strike out five batters, walk three, and only allow the one earned run.
On the opposite side, Curwensville’s Shane Sunderlin was doing well, but then it went downhill in the bottom of the fifth.
After getting the first two batters out, Danish singled and then Donaldson followed it up with another double. With runners on first and second, the call was made from the Curwensville coaches to walk Braylan Knable, loading up the bases for Cainen Atherton. Following two balls and a foul, Atherton connected on a liner to the left field wall. But, instead of hitting the wall, it went over the reach of Thad Butler, and in an instant a tie game went to being a 5-1 lead for the Trojans on a grand slam.
One inning later, Mount Union closed the game out in the sixth with an RBI-single courtesy of Ryan Plank, then a two-RBI double by Donaldson, his third of the game. An RBI-double by Knable made it 10-1. One final run would make the game official, and thanks to a fielding error on a ground ball from Blaine Huntsinger, an unearned run crossed the plate, finishing the game with two outs in the sixth.
GAME 1
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 001 000 – 1 2 1
Mount Union 100 046 – 11 11 1
Curwensville – 1
Jake Mullins-SS 2100, Logan Kunkle-DH 3010, Shane Sunderlin-P 2000, Thad Butler-LF 2000, Spencer Hoover-C 2011, Ayden Sutika-3B 3000, Jayson Rowles-RF 3000, Tyler Lee-2B 2000, Chris Fegert-CF 1000, Nik Fegert-CR 0000. TOTALS 20 1 2 1.
Mount Union – 11
Bryce Danish-CF 3320, Cameron Donaldson-SS 4243, Braylan Knable-C 3011, Cainen Atherton-2B 3214, Blaine Hunsinger-3B 4000, Je’saun Robinson-LF 4021, Dayvon Wilson-P 2100, Ryan Plank-1B 3011, Landon Chrisemer-RF 3100, Wyatt Chrisemer-CR 0200. TOTALS 29 11 11 10.
- LOB: 6/3
- E: Sutika/Donaldson
- ROE: Butler/Hunsinger
- 2B: Knable, Donaldson-3
- HR: Atherton
- GS: Atherton
- SAC: C. Fegert
- FC: L. Chrisemer
- HBP: Butler, Mullins/Wilson
- SB: Butler-3, Mullins/Wilson
PITCHING
Curwensville: Sunderlin-5.2 IP, 11 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB.
Mount Union: Wilson-6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 SO, 3 BB.
W-Wilson
L-Sunderlin
Both teams got a chance to recuperate for the second game, and Curwensville was wanting to make up for the loss, and it was weighing on their mind in the pregame warmups.
Just like the first game, the Trojans got an early lead, but this time they would hold the lead for the entire duration.
The Trojans put up three runs to start the afternoon in the first. A lead-off triple by Danish put a runner immediately in scoring position, and one batter later Donaldson got that done with a sacrifice fly. Three consecutive singles by Hunsinger, Je’saun Robinson and Wilson followed, with Wilson’s being a liner to deep center field for a two-RBI shot to immediately make it 3-0 after one inning.
It didn’t take long for the Tide to make a change at the hill as starter Jayson Rowles gave up two more runs in the second, one being an RBI-single, the other a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.
Rowles went one inning, giving up five runs, and walking three with no strikeouts. In fact, all the pitchers that came in for the Tide struggled to strike out the opposition, striking out only one batter.
The Tide did get one run back in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but that would be the lone run they got all game. Danish was dealing on the mound, striking out eight and only walking two.
After getting a sixth run in the fifth inning, Mount Union put the game away in the sixth with a six-run inning.
Two consecutive errors made it 8-1, an RBI-single by Dayvon Wilson, Robinson scoring on a wild pitch, and another RBI-single from Landon Chrisemer made it 11-1, putting the mercy rule in effect once again just like game one. One more run came in on an error, setting the final as Curwensville was shut out in the bottom half of the inning.
Curwensville does get a break in the schedule as they will be back on the diamond Monday when they travel to Moshannon Valley.
GAME 2
SCORE BY INNING
Mount Union 320 016 – 12 12 0
Curwensville 000 100 – 1 3 3
Mount Union – 12
Bryce Danish-P 3110, Georgie Bilger-CR 0100, Wyatt Christemer-PH 1010, Cameron Donaldson-SS 3111, Julian Weirich-PH 1000, Braylan Knable-C 4010, Cainen Atherton-2B 3221, Blaine Hunsinger 3210, Je’saun Robinson-CF 2221, Dayvon Wilson-1B 4123, Ryan Plank-LF 4000, Landon Chrisemer-RF 2211. TOTALS 30 12 12 7.
Curwensville – 1
Jake Mullins-SS 3010, Logan Kunkle-2B 3000, Shane Sunderlin-1B 3010, Thad Butler-LF 2110, Spencer Hoover-C 1000, Hunter Tkacik-PH 1000, Ayden Sutika-3B 2000, Alan Farley-PH 1000, Jayson Rowles-P/RF 1001, Tyler Lee-RF/P 1000, Chris Fegert-CF 2000, Grant Swanson-CR 0000. TOTALS 20 1 3 1.
- LOB: 8/5
- E: Rowles, Sutika-2
- ROE: Atherton, Hunsinger
- 3B: Danish
- SF: Donaldson/Rowles
- FC: Rowles
- DP: Mullins, Sunderlin, Kunkle
- GIDP: Hunsinger
- HBP: Robinson/Hoover
- SB: L. Chrisemer, Donaldson
PITCHING
Mount Union: Danish-6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 8 SO, 2 BB.
Curwensville: Rowles-1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 SO, 3 BB; Lee-4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB; Libby-1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB.
W-Danish
L-Rowles