CURWENSVILLE — Despite the temperatures feeling more like fans should be in the grandstands watching the gridiron, the Curwensville Golden Tide were instead lacing up the cleats to take to their home baseball diamond on Tuesday afternoon. On the slate was the home opener, as the original opener the prior Thursday was rained out. The Glendale Vikings made the trek to the Curwensville Area High School ready for action.
The cold temperatures were not the only things cold on this day. The Tide’s bats were on ice all afternoon, and simple miscues put a chill on the game, as Curwensville committed five errors. Glendale capitalized, handing the Tide a 12-2 loss that was decided early.
The Vikings put Troy Misiura on the hill to start their season, and his effort did not go unnoticed. He would pitch a strong, and decisive, contest as he went six innings, striking out 10, and only yielding three hits. That effort would be good on any afternoon, but he got aided by Curwensville’s defense not being able to corral the baseball in the cold temperatures.
In the top of the third, starting Tide pitcher Lawson Neiswender found himself in his first major jam of the season as he gave up a single and a walk, coupled with a fielder’s choice by Ayden Sutika that resulted in loaded bases with only one out. The next at bat saw Mason Peterson ground to second baseman Caden Pierce. Unfortunately, he could not pull the ground ball in, allowing Peterson to reach first and bringing in the first run of the afternoon. Misiura helped his own cause right after as he snagged a two-RBI single to left field, giving the visitors a 3-0 cushion.
Neiswender was replaced shortly afterwards at the mound by Logan Kunkle, who moved over from shortstop, while Neiswender went to first, taking over for Tristan Wills. Neiswender ultimately took the loss with a two and one-third inning effort, giving up three runs while striking out one.
The change did not do much to help the defense as Pierce picked up his second error of the inning two batters later, bringing in a pair of runs. The miscues continued for Pierce as his third error in the inning allowed another runner to round the bases, and midway through the third the Vikings suddenly had a 6-0 advantage.
Curwensville got back in the game in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a two-RBI single by Sutika, but that would be as close as the Tide would get.
Glendale added another run in the fifth on a fielder’s choice by Bryson Davis, but shut things completely down in the sixth inning as the entire lineup would go to the plate.
By this time, Kunkle had been replaced at the hill by both Sutika and then Evan McCartney, and it was as though it was the same song, different verse.
An error by Kunkle allowed Misiura to get home to make the score 8-2, then Landon McGarvey added an RBI to his stat line, despite grounding out, to add yet another run to the book. Back-to-back RBI-singles by Davis and Jim Sutton put the score to 11-2, deflating the entire Curwensville dugout, and adding to the frustration of the afternoon.
A final run in the seventh inning set the final score, and after a strong performance through six innings, Misiura was relieved as Mason Peterson came in for the bottom half to close the game out. He did that in fast fashion, striking out three straight batters, all of whom went down swinging.
Curwensville (1-1) starts a stretch of three consecutive road games this Thursday when they travel to face Williamsburg. First pitch is set for approximately 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Glendale 006 014 1 – 12 9 0
Curwensville 002 000 0 – 2 3 5
Glendale – 12
Bryson Davis-cf 5112, Jim Sutton-lf 4111, Mason Peterson-1b/p 5101, Troy Misiura-p/1b 3322, Tanner Holes-ss 2220, B. Sprangle-3b 5103, Landen McGarvey-2b 4101, Connor Potutshing-c 4110, Jacob Lukehart-rf 4120. TOTALS 36 12 9 10.
Curwensville – 2
Christian Fegert-cf 3010, Andrew Pentz-c 2100, Logan Kunkle-ss/p 2000, Ayden Sutika-3b/p 3012, Lawson Neiswender-p/1b 2000, Merek Sutika-rf 3000, Aiden Finn-dh 2000, Evan McCartney-p/ph 1000, Tristan Wills-1b 1000, Cael Butler-ph 1000, Shane Radzieta-ph 1000, Nik Fegert-rf 2110, Kyler Nelen-ph 1000. TOTALS 24 2 3 2.
- E: Kunkle-2, Pierce-3
- ROE: Misiura, Lukehart, Peterson, Spangle-2
- 2B: Misiura
- FC: Potutshing, Davis-2
- SB: Holes-3, Potutshing, Misiura, Davis/C. Fegert, Kunkle
- PIK: Misiura
PITCHING
- Glendale: Misiura-6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 SO, 3 BB; Peterson-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB.
- Curwensville: Neiswender-2.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB; Kunkle-1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 4 BB; A. Sutika-1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB; McCartney-2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB.
W-Misiura (1-0)
L-Neiswender (0-1)