Early Runs Doom Curwensville Against Lakeview

MYRTLE BEACH, SC — The final day at the Cal Ripken Experience for the Golden Tide of Curwensville meant an early afternoon contest.  This year, they would close out the experience with a game against the Lakeview Sailors, who make their home in Stoneboro, Pennsylvania.

For Curwensville, the experience was not as grand on the diamond.  Early runs given up in the first couple of innings were too much to overcome, losing to the Sailors, 9-4.

The major hurt came in the opening inning when Cory Williams led off the game with a double to the left field wall.  One batter later, Brett Beith hammered another double deep into the gap between left and center field, pushing Williams around to home plate.  The third batter, Zack Dobbo, then got in on the action as he blasted a 2-1 pitch to nearly the exact same spot as Beith, another RBI-double, to bring in the second run of the inning.  Three consecutive batters yielded three extra-base hits.

Starting pitcher for Curwensville Noah VonGunden didn’t get to see the first out until Trent Milliren grounded out to short.

One batter later, J.P. McGee singled to right, putting runners on first and second, and then Brandon Partridge hammered a fourth double in the inning, bringing home McGee.  Noah Burke then struck out for the second out of the inning.

The final run came in while Kyle Uber was at the plate.  VonGunden saw a pitch go right past his catcher’s glove, and Partridge made his way not just to third, but in the struggle to get the ball for the out at the bag, he rounded the corner and made it home, giving the Sailors an early 5-0 advantage that they would not relinquish.

Curwensville got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the inning as VonGunden scored on an RBI-single by Jake Mullins, then Ralph Evans came up with a second RBI-single to bring Mullins to the plate.  However, Curwensville saw a strikeout, fly out, and fielder’s choice end the inning, leaving them down three runs.

VonGunden continued to pitch in the second inning, but Dobbo drove in the sixth run of the game on an RBI-single, plating Uber, then Milliren added a second RBI-single to bring Beith home.  Harzinski let his starter finish the inning, but he was already working on a pitching change for the third inning, hoping to get some momentum.

Curwensville’s final scores came in the bottom of the inning with a huge RBI-triple by Avery Francisco, his best hit of the early season, to plate Mullins, then Jake McCracken hammered an RBI-single to shallow to right in order to bring Francisco home.

In the third, Jeremiah Farley took over pitching duties, but the 7-4 gap was looking to be too much to overcome.  VonGunden ultimately was credited with the loss in his two innings of work, while Obreza got credited with the win thanks to four solid innings, giving up only seven hits and four earned runs.

Farley finished the final five innings on the mound for the Tide, only giving up the final two runs in the sixth, both in rather unfortunate circumstances.  The first came from Uber, who came home when Curwensville failed to keep hold of Farley’s pitch.  Then, Beith scored in an easy way when the home plate umpire called Farley for a balk.  Two runs, one unearned, that ended the scoring on the day.

Curwensville (0-2) starts its Moshannon Valley League schedule on Tuesday when they host the DuBois Central Catholic Cardinals.  First pitch is slated for 4:15 p.m., weather permitting.

SCORE BY INNING

Lakeview  520 002 0 – 9 9 2
Curwensville  220 000 0 – 4 8 0

Lakeview – 9

Williams 4110, Beith 2311, Dobbo 4022, Milliren 3012, McGee 4110, Partridge 3111, Burke 3000, Uber 3220, McIntire 0100, Crocker 0000.  TOTALS 29 9 9 6.

Curwensville – 4

VonGunden 4100, Mullins 3230, Francisco 3111, McCracken 4011, Evans 4012, Wilson 2000, Straw 1000, Brown 0000, Heitsenreather 3020, Farley 3000, Irwin 0000, Bakaysa 2000, Stiles 1000, Bressler 1000.  TOTALS 31 4 8 4.

2B:  Williams, Beith, Partridge, Dobbo
3B:  Francisco
E:  Uber, Partridge
HBP:  Burke, Beith/Francisco, Irwin, Mullins
SB:  Uber-3, Milliren, Beith-2/Mullins, VonGunden
LOB:  5/11

PITCHING

Lakeview:  Obreza-4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; Dobbo-3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.

Curwensville:  VonGunden-2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB; Farley-5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 SO, 3 BB.

WP-Obreza (1-0). LP-VonGunden (0-1)