FLINTON – In a wild contest in Flinton on Monday afternoon the Curwensville Golden Tide baseball team won its second straight game, beating the Vikings of Glendale 17-16 in Moshannon Valley League (MVL) action.
With the victory, Curwensville is now 2-5 on the year and 1-0 in the MVL, while the Vikings drop one game under 500 at 4-5 and are now 1-2 in the Moshannon Valley League.
Curwensville head coach Denny Johns was still somewhat numb afterwards in what had just transpired on the field, “In all of my years of being around and playing baseball, I have never been involved in a game as wild as this one.”
And that, was somewhat of an understatement.
The Tide jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top half of the first inning as senior Jesse Zorger connected on a three run homer to left field with one out.
The Vikings trailed 5-0 going into the bottom of the third inning when they decided to get offensive, putting up seven runs to take the lead from the Golden Tide at 7-5.
Glendale would up its margin to 10-5 in the bottom half of the fifth inning by tallying three more times; but the best, or worst, was yet to come, depending what side you were on.
Curwensville had nine hits on the day, but truly benefited from the 13 walks issued by Glendale pitchers, with the sixth inning being a prime example.
The Tide managed just one hit in top of the sixth, but picked up six walks, all leading to a five-run inning that enabled Curwensville to knot the score at 10-10.
Then, the truly wild and crazy seventh inning.
Curwensville got two huge hits in the top of the seventh. A bases loaded, three-run double to left center field by Boone McGary with one out and a crushing two-run, two out home run by Brad Coudriet that proved to be the game winner.
All this gave Curwensville seven runs, and a 17-10 lead, and needing just three outs to pick up its second win in a row.
The Vikings weren’t going to go away quietly as they rallied for six runs in the bottom of the seventh to come up just one run short on a crazy afternoon of baseball in Flinton.
Johns talked about the effort of Glendale, “One thing I would like to say is that Glendale deserves a lot of credit, battling back with one out in the bottom of the seventh and to get six runs back. They never quit either.”
About his own team Johns mentioned, “Russell (Jordan) really battled to the get the last two outs for us in the bottom of the seventh and the save. And remember, he hadn’t pitched in over two weeks, so that was big for us.”
Finally, Johns talked about what’s next for his team, “It’s two in a row for us, but we have a tough game tomorrow (Tuesday) with Johnsonburg at home. We are going to have to play a better game, though, to be competitive against a quality team like Johnsonburg.”
A combined total of 20 players played in the field for both teams and nine played multiple positions.
The Viking used five pitchers on the day, with Justin Kephart taking two different turns on the mound.
Curwensville had two hits each from Zorger and Kyle Bloom, with Zorger knocking in five teammates.
Glendale was lead offensively with Tim Sutton and Patrick Hamilton each collecting three hits while Mike Wigfield, Mitch Gedman, Jarid Ivory, Billy Sanders and Kephart all getting two hits.
Wow! A game for the ages and a crazy scorebook to keep.
The Golden Tide are back in action Tuesday afternoon when they battle the Rams of Johnsonburg in a home game that starts at 4:15 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – 17
Tanner Elensky ss 4110, Kyle Johns 3b 2300, Boone McGary p/c/1b 3314, Jesse Zorger lf/1b 3325, K. Bloom c/p 3122, Jordan Russell cf/p 0000, Todd Munchak dh 4101, Jason Bloom 1b 4011, Brad Coudriet lf/cf 1112, Brett Gardner 2b 5110, Alex Holland rf 1300, TOTALS – 30 17 9 15.
GLENDALE – 16
Tim Sutton lf 6331, Mike Wigfield 3b/p/cf 5221, Mitch Gedman c/pc 4220, Jarid Ivory cf/c/p/cf 3221, Zarek Evanskey ss 4112, Gus Gates rf 3111, Billy Sanders 2b 4123, Justin Kephart p/3b/p/3b 3121, Craig Hewitt p 0100, Patrick Hamilton 1b 5230, TOTALS – 37 16 18 10.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 410 005 7 17 9 5
GLENDALE 007 030 6 16 18 1
ERRORS – McGary, Holland, Russell, Gardner, J. Bloom, Evanskey. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 6 GLENDALE -9. DP – Glendale. 2B – McGary, J. Bloom, Sutton 2, Gedman, Sanders. HR – Zorger (3-run, 1st), Coudriet (2-run, 7th) SB – Johns, Zorger, Coudriet, Holland, Sutton2, Ivory 2, Evanskey, Gates, Hewitt. SF- Gates. HBP – Elensky (by Kephart), Ivory (by McGary).
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
McGary 2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HB
K. Bloom 4 1/3 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Russell 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
GLENDALE
Kephart 1 2/3 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 1 HB
Wigfield 3 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Gedman 2/3 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 1 K
Ivory 2/3 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Hewitt 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
WP – K. Bloom (1-1). LP – Ivory. Save – Russell.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/27 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 5 – 8 | 0 – 1 |
| 3/31 | “Harry Combs Classic” in VA | ||
| Broadway, VA | 4 – 18 | 0 – 2 | |
| Central, VA | 4 – 6 | 0 – 3 | |
| 4/02 | BROOKVILLE | 2 – 12 | 0 – 4 |
| 4/04 | RIDGWAY | 1 – 9 | 0 – 5 |
| 4/11 | @ Kane | ppd. | 0 – 5 |
| 4/13 | BROCKWAY | 8 – 7 | 1 – 5 |
| 4/16 | @ Glendale | 17 – 16 | 2 – 5 |
| 4/17 | JOHNSONBURG |
