CURWENSVILLE — Leading up to Friday’s game against the Purchase Line Red Dragons, the Curwensville Golden Tide was struggling to bring runners across the plate. In five of the last seven games, excluding the wins against Harmony and Moshannon Valley, Curwensville had only plated four runners, with three of those games being shutouts. In that same span, the opposition had scored 63 runs. The hope was, with the home crowd in attendance, the Tide would shift and the winning ways would return.
Despite the lack of hits on the day, Curwensville kept the game close, and managed to use a late rally to take a 5-2 victory.
Following a scoreless first inning, it was the Tide that got on the board first. With two outs on the board, Hunter Tkacik managed to get on base when third baseman Austin Chambers had an errant throw to first. One batter later, Lawson Neiswender managed to stare down the first pitch he saw and launched a line drive into right field. The RBI-double brought Tkacik home to put Curwensville in front. Purchase Line got that run back in the top of the third when John Hughes hit a groundout but managed to plate Chambers.
The Tide would not go away, coming right back in the bottom of the inning when Andrew Pentz reached first on another error by Chambers. But, this error allowed Cayden Pearce to cross home plate to give the Tide a 2-1 lead.
It would not be until the fifth when the Red Dragons knotted things up. After relieving starting pitcher Gavin McDermott, Pentz dealt a bases-loaded walk to Coby Byers, which tied the game at two runs each.
The bottom of the inning is when Curwensville would get the lead back and keep it for good.
A pair of walks to Grant Swanson and Cael Butler put two runners on base. Pentz then came to the plate, and on the first pitch he saw, both runners went, each stealing a base and getting into scoring position. Then, on a 2-2 pitch, Pentz launched the ball into center field, a two-RBI double, that doubled up the visitors 4-2. That at-bat would be the final lead change on the day, and would give Pentz the win in a relief effort, pitching the final two and one-third innings, striking out four and yielding no runs.
Another RBI-double by Logan Kunkle during the following at-bat would set the final, giving Curwensville a much-needed victory after a tough stretch of games.
For Purchase Line, Devlan Kordish took the loss, pitching five innings and giving up all five runs.
Curwensville (7-10) has a light week upcoming as they will only have two games. They will start with the final home game of the season on Tuesday when they host the Williamsburg Blue Pirates. Back on April 9, the Tide won the first contest between the two, 4-1. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Purchase Line 001 010 0 – 2 1 2
Curwensville 011 030 X – 5 3 1
Purchase Line – 2
Stephen Perrusso-ss 3000, Devlan Kordish-p/2b 2100, Austin Chambers-3b 4110, John Hughes-c 3001, Jace Misko-2b/p 2000, Coby Byers-1b 1001, John Edwards-lf 3000, Daniel Boring-rf 1000, Jaylin Robertson-cf 3000. TOTALS 22 2 1 2.
Curwensville – 5
Grant Swanson-rf 2100, Kyler Nelen-lf 0000, Cael Butler-2b 2100, Andrew Pentz-2b/p 3012, Caleb Bloom-cr 0000, Logan Kunkle-ss 2011, Merek Sutika-cf 3000, Hunter Tkacik-1b 3100, Lawson Neiswender-3b 3011, Lincoln Hoyt-c 3000, Gavin McDermott-p/lf 2000, Cayden Pierce-cr 0200. TOTALS 23 5 3 4.
- 2B: Chambers/Pentz, Kunkle, Neiswender
- HBP: Kordish-2, Byers/Kunkle
- SB: Swanson-2, Butler, Pierce
- E: Chambers-2/Neiswender
PITCHING
- Purchase Line: Kordish-5 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 SO, 3 BB; Misko-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.
- Curwensville: McDermott-4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 9 SO, 4 BB; Pentz-2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB.
W-Pentz (5-3)
L-Kordish
GOLDEN TIDE SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/18 BROCKWAY ppd. 0 – 0
3/21 @ Juniata Valley ppd. 0 – 0
3/25 MO VALLEY 0 – 10 0 – 1
3/26 @ Juniata Valley 9 – 9, susp. 0 – 1
3/28 @ Claysburg-Kimmel 1 – 5 0 – 2
4/02 BROCKWAY ppd. 0 – 2
4/04 WEST BRANCH ppd. 0 – 2
4/06 @ Union 0 – 13 0 – 3
4/09 @ Wiliamsburg 4 – 1 1 – 3
4/11 @ Brockway 3 – 2, susp. 1 – 3
4/13 @ Harmony ppd. 1 – 3
4/15 @ Brockway 10 – 2 2 – 3
4/15 BROCKWAY 8 – 2 3 – 3
4/16 GLENDALE 7 – 14 3 – 4
4/18 @ Tourney vs. Altoona 0 – 16 3 – 5
4/19 @ Tourney vs. Tyrone 2 – 4 3 – 6
4/23 JUNIATA VALLEY 11 – 9 4 – 6
4/23 JUNIATA VALLEY 2 – 4 4 – 7
4/25 MT. UNION 0 – 18 4 – 8
4/26 HARMONY 13 – 0 5 – 8
4/27 WEST BRANCH 0 – 9 5 – 9
4/30 @ Mo Valley 9 – 2 6 – 9
5/02 @ West Branch 0 – 10 6 – 10
5/03 PURCHASE LINE 5 – 2 7 – 10
5/07 WILLIAMSBURG
5/08 @ Glendale
5/15 @ Harmony