GANT: Curwensville Back to Winning Ways in Sweep of Brockway

BROCKWAY, Pa. — The weather has not been in favor of the Curwensville Golden Tide when it came to being on the baseball diamond. All activities from Thursday and Friday got halted, first because of the heavy rain, then gusty winds.

(This article was provided by our News Partner GantDaily.com.)

Finally, things cleared enough to make up one of the games that was halted during the week, a road contest against the Brockway Rovers that was slated for Thursday. The Rovers were trying to answer back when they were on the opposite side of a 20-12 back-and-forth contest in Curwensville. At the same time, the Tide were coming off back-to-back losses against DuBois Central Catholic, so they were wanting to return to their winning ways.

The latter is what happened because Curwensville would find their bats working overtime on this day, compiling 17 hits and defeating Brockway, 12-8, for the season sweep.

Curwensville got the lead in the first inning following consecutive singles by Spencer Hoover and Thad Butler. Jake McCracken connected on a single to center field, bringing in Hoover for the opening run, then Jake Mullins would double to nearly the same location, allowing Butler to round the bases. The 2-0 lead held until the third inning when the Tide opened it up with five more runs.

The first came on a wild pitch from Conner Ford, letting McCracken cross home. Mullins would score on a fielding error on the next at-bat, and then Chase Graham connected on an RBI-single to left field. Two batters later, Hoover would blast a two-RBI single on a liner to left field, putting the score at 7-0 and putting the Rovers in a deep hole.

Curwensville added a pair of runs in the fourth before the Rovers would finally get on the board in the bottom of the inning thanks to a fielding error by Keegan Wilson.

But the Tide answered right back in the fifth courtesy of a sacrifice fly, making it 10-1. Curwensville would plate one run each in the final three innings, while the Rovers would try to reel in the opposition with three runs in the fifth, and another four in the sixth. Unfortunately, the four-run gap was as close as they would get as the Rovers left a runner hanging in the bottom of the seventh as a pair of ground outs closed the game in disappointment for the Rovers, while ended a two-game skid for Curwensville that saw them outscored 20-3 in that span.

Jake Mullins earned the win for Curwensville despite only going three innings. However, he gave up no runs, while striking out four. Ford got dinged with the loss in his four and one-third inning effort, giving up 11 hits and 10 runs, only four of them earned. Curwensville also saw McCracken get the save on the afternoon in one and two-thirds innings of work.

Curwensville (5-6) is on the road Monday when they take a quick ride up Rt. 879 to face the Clearfield Bison. Clearfield won the first matchup in Curwensville, 9-2, on April 19. First-pitch is at 4:30 p.m.

SCORE BY INNING

Curwensville 205 211 1 – 12 17 2
Brockway 000 134 0 – 8 7 4

Curwensville – 12

Spencer Hoover-LF 4222, Thad Butler-SS/3B 4221, Keegan Wilson-1B 4120, Jake McCracken-CF/P 5231, Jake Mullins-P/SS 5231, Matt Brown-RF 4110, Shane Sunderlin-RF/P/3B 5112, Chase Graham-C 3121, Tyler Lee-2B/P 3011, Nick Fegert-CR 0100. TOTALS 37 12 17 10.

Brockway – 8

Ben Glasl-CF/2B 2011, Ezra Swanson-RF/P 3102, Dylan Bash-1B/SS 4012, Conner Ford-P/CF 3111, Daniel Shugarts-3B 2010, Antonuccio-PH 1100, Lance Fitzgerald-RF 3111, Andrew Brubaker-C 4010, Matthew Brubaker-SS/ 1000, Jeremy Swanson-PH/RF 1200, Marcus Bennett-LF 3211. TOTALS 27 8 7 8.

LOB: 10/6
E: Wilson-2/M. Brubaker-2, Bash, Bennett
ROE: Mullins, Sunderlin-3/Bennett, Fitzgerald
2B: Mullins/Shugarts
SAC: Graham/Glasl
SF: Butler
FC: Lee, McCracken-2/E. Swanson
HBP: Lee/Glasl, Bennett, J. Swanson-2
SB: Wilson
CS: Brown, McCracken/Glasl
PIK: Ford

Pitching

Curwensville: Mullins-3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 SO, 1 BB; Sunderlin-2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB; Lee-0.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB; McCracken-1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB.

Brockway: Ford-4.1 IP, 11 H, 10 R, 4 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; E. Swanson-2.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 SO, 0 BB.

W-Mullins
L-Ford
S-McCracken