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Martinazzi RBI lifts Carroll over Guilfoyle

Brandon Martinazzi’s clutch play was one of the reasons Bishop Carroll Catholic High School advanced to the PIAA Class A state semifinals in basketball this past season.

Martinazzi was clutch in baseball Friday, hitting the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Carroll to a 4-3 win over Bishop Guilfoyle in the opening round of the 12th annual Curve Classic at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Carroll will face Central, a 2-0 winner over Huntingdon, in the semifinals at 3 p.m. today.

Ray Watt walked to open the Carroll eighth inning and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw by BG pitcher Don Gochnaur. Watt moved to third on Kenny Weiland’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Martinazzi’s fly ball to left field.

“I was struggling at the plate today, but we had to get that run in some way,” Martinazzi said. “I got a good pitch and just put it in play.

“[Watt] did a good job running because it definitely wasn’t hit that deep, but it got the job done.”

Carroll coach Matt Pfeil wasn’t surprised that Martinazzi, a second team all-stater in basketball, delivered the sac fly.

“He’s very clutch,” Pfeil said. “Many people saw that in basketball season. Because of their long run in basketball, some of those guys haven’t had a lot of practice time.

“Brandon is a good athlete with a good head and he seems to get the job done when you call on him.”

Starting pitchers Josh Surkovich of Carroll and Will Lozinak of BG both pitched well for seven innings.

“After a couple innings, it seemed like no one could touch Surkovich’s off-speed stuff,” Pfeil said, “and their guy [Lozinak] kept us off balance.”

BG coach Mel Kepner praised both teams.

“It was a great high school game,” Kepner said. “You can’t ask for more than that. Their kid pitched great and deserved to win as much as our guy. It was a shame someone had to lose.

“I’m proud of our team and proud to be a part of this event.”

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (3): Montecalvo rf 501, Barber 2b 411, Rhone 2b 000, Cursio 1b 212, Gormley dh 402, Verba cf 000, Lozinak p 412, Young lf 000, Kowalski lf 200, Yasulitis ph 000, Gochnaur lf-p 100, Litzinger 3b 401, Stewart ss 200, Kitt ph 100, Potopa c 300, Stitt ph 100, Fanelli pr 000. Totals – 33-3-9.

BISHOP CARROLL (4): Woo cf 310, Lucas 2b-p 312, Watt ss 321, Weiland 3b 301, Martinazzi lf 300, M. Lessard 1b 300, Surkovich p-2b 300, Mento c 301, V. Lessard cr 000, Noel rf 201, Hull ph 100. Totals – 27-4-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Bishop Guilfoyle000 001 20-3 9 3

Bishop Carroll100 002 01-4 6 5

E-Barber, Gochnaur, Litzinger, Woo, Watt Weiland 2, Surkovich. 2B-Lozinak. 3B-Cursio. RBI-Weiland, Martinazzi, Cursio, Gormley, Litzinger. Sac – Weiland, Yasulitis. Sac fly – Martinazzi.

PITCHING RECORDS

GuilfoyleIPHRERSOBB

Lozinak763262

Gochnaur (L)2/301001

CarrollIPHRERSOBB

Surkovich (W)793321

Lucas (SV)100011

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (0-5); Bishop Carroll (2-2)

Umpires – Jim Klausman (plate), Larry Stitt (bases).

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