CURWENSVILLE — After a pair of wins in one afternoon just a day earlier, the Curwensville Golden Tide were feeling confident and energized, but immediately had to be refocused since the celebration that came from those wins was short lived. The Tide had to quickly get ready for the next game, which was a day later, as the Glendale Vikings came in to do battle.
This time, Curwensville faltered early and tried to get back into it against the Vikings. But, the gap that came from the start of the afternoon was too much, as the Tide fell 14-7 in a disheartening fashioning.
Glendale got things going in a big way in the opening inning, plating a total of six runs. Starting pitcher Connor Luzier quickly saw a 2-1 pitch ground through the infield just beyond shortstop Cael Butler. Back-to-back walks then loaded the bases. After an infield fly for the first out of the game, Luzier gave up consecutive bases-loaded walks to Devin Kaufman and James Jenkins. At that point, head coach Derek Dixon elected to make a change at pitcher, not even through one inning, in hopes of changing the complexion of the game. He chose to bring Lawson Neiswender in from first to the hill, while moving Hunter Tkacik to first base, essentially eliminating his original starting role on the day as designated hitter.
Luzier’s five-run performance in just one-third inning would be what ultimately gave him the loss on the day.
Neiswender’s time on the mound did not start well as Landon McGarvey caught a 2-2 pitch into left field to plate Connor Potuschnig to make it 3-0. Two batters later, now with two outs on the tally, another bases-loaded walk to cleanup batter Jacob Lukehart made it 4-0. Then it got back to the top of the lineup as Brison Davis returned to the plate, it became the most exciting play of the entire inning. Davis hit a grounder to third baseman Logan Kunkle, who fumbled the ball a bit to allow Davis to get to first. Kaufman managed to get home, and as Jenkins made his way home, Lukehart suddenly found himself caught in a rundown. Back and forth went the ball between Kunkle, Andrew Pentz, Neiswender and Butler. In the end, Lukehart would get caught finally as he made his way to third for the final tag.
Still, the 6-0 score was a big hole for Curwensville to pull out of, and McGarvey was not about to give up easy. He would roll through the first two innings just giving up a pair of walks but no runs.
Curwensville finally got the bats going in the bottom of the third to cut into the lead in a big way. A two-RBI single by Pentz would plate Kunkle and Butler. Two batters later, Gavin McDermott followed the “same song, different verse” idea, as he would also gain a two-RBI single to bring the Tide within two runs, 6-4.
Sadly for the home fans, two of those runs were given back in the fourth. A groundout by Troy Misiura allowed Lukehart to score his second run of the game, then Potuschnig got an RBI on his season stats that allowed Davis to score. Curwensville managed to get another run in the bottom of the inning, however that would be as close as they would get.
McGarvey would continue to have a strong showing on the mound, pitching four innings and giving up six earned runs to get the victory.
The Vikings would put up enough of a cushion in the fifth inning that deflated the entire Tide dugout. With two outs on the board after the first two batters, James Shaw drew a four-pitch walk, then Lukehart also had an easy trip to first. After a Davis single, Misiura hit a linter to left field that had Shaw cross the plate, followed by Lukehart to make the score 10-5. An error by Neiswender then an RBI-single by Levi Hamilton would make it 12-5, and the energy that was in the Tide went away.
Curwensville added another run in the bottom of the inning, but the Vikings would get their final pair of runs in the seventh on a pair of RBI-singles from Hamilton and Frank Visnofsky. In all, every batter at some point except one for Glendale would make it across home at one point in the game.
The final run of the afternoon came in the seventh as Butler got an RBI-single off Davis, who came in as the second relief pitcher for the Vikings in the game. But, he would rally and secure the final out on a strikeout to Lincoln Hoyt.
It’s a bit of a different style schedule to close out the week for Curwensville (3-4) as they are tentatively set to take part in tournament play on Thursday afternoon. They will hit the road to take on the Altoona Mountain Lions, but the game will be played in the early afternoon. First-pitch is set for 12:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Glendale 600 240 2 – 14 11 0
Curwensville 004 110 1 – 7 9 2
Glendale – 14
Brison Davis-cf/p 4330, Troy Misiura-ss 4313, Connor Potuschnig-c 4111, Levi Hamilton-2b/p 5132, Devin Kaufman-3b 3101, James Jenkins-lf 2101, Frank Visnofsky-rf 2011, Landon McGarvey-p/2b 4111, James Shaw-1b 3110, Jacob Lukehart-rf/lf 1201. TOTALS 32 14 11 11.
Curwensville – 7
Logan Kunkle-3b 4110, Lincoln Hoyt-c/p 4001, Andrew Pentz-2b 4122, Merek Sutika-rf 0100, Hunter Tkacik-dh/1b 3100, Gavin McDermott-cf 2112, Lawson Neiswender-1b/p 3011, Dante Lezzer-c 1000, Kyler Nelen-lf 4110, Cael Butler-ss 4131. TOTALS 29 7 9 7.
- 2B: Davis/Kunkle
- HBP: McGarvey/McDermott
- SB: Davis, Misiura, Potuschnig, Hamilton-3/Tkacik-2, Butler, Hoyt
- CS: Shaw/Sutika
- E-Kunkle, Neiswender
PITCHING
- Glendale: McGarvey-4 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 SO, 5 BB; Hamilton-2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB; Davis-0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB.
- Curwensville: Luzier-0.1 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 SO, 4 BB; Neiswender-5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 5 SO, 4 BB; Hoyt-1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB.
W-McGarvey
L-Luzier (0-2)