Altoona finds unique road to title game
Trending
Coming off an ugly 19-15 win over Latrobe in the opening game of the 2023 Curve Classic early Thursday, Altoona knew it needed to play much better to have any chance of beating Hollidaysburg in the semifinals later in the day.
The Mountain Lions did just that, thanks in great part to a pair of young guns. Aaron Smearman and Tanner Stroup combined to strike out 14, holding Hollidaysburg to just one run on six hits in a 5-1 win over the Golden Tigers at PNG Field.
"It was a very frustrating first game. It's like I told them 'If you're going to play a 19-15 game, you'd better win' and to our credit we came back and won," Altoona coach Tom "Turtle" Smith said. "The second game is the way baseball's supposed to be played. To hold them to one run speaks volumes to what our young pitchers did."
Smearman, a sophomore righthander, started and struck out nine in 4• innings. Stroup, a freshman lefty, retired eight of the nine batters in relief, five by strikeout, to seal Altoona's berth in the championship game Saturday at 10 a.m.
"They really came up big time. Hollidaysburg's a good team. They have a lot of good hitters," Altoona catcher Sean Bettwy said. "To come in as underclassmen, strike out a lot guys, keep the runs low and the baserunners low was huge for us. Their pitching really got us through this game."
Connor Blough and Bryce Eberhart each went 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead the offense.
"This is the first time in a long time our team's been in the championship game," Blough said. "It's really important to us. It's a big game for us Saturday. We'll come prepared."
Altoona sent 10 batters to the plate in the second, scoring four times to grab the early lead.
Michael Riccio started the rally with a double. Bryce Eberhart's single chased home Aiden Diehl, who was running for Riccio. After Eberhart scored on a fielder's choice, Stroup came around on a Connor Weyandt bloop double to left. Weyandt then raced home on a throwing error.
The inning could have been much worse for Hollidaysburg. Riccio came to the plate again with the bases loaded and two outs. The senior DH hit a sinking liner to the center, but Jake Hileman made a great diving catch to save three runs.
"Jake does that a lot. He covers a lot of ground out there. From gap to gap, he covers it about as well as I've seen in a while," Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said.
Hollidaysburg got on the board in the bottom of the third when Landon Perry drove in Joe Bukosky on a single to right. With runners on first and third, however, Altoona got a double play on a strikeout and caught stealing. Smearman struck out the next batter as well to end the threat.
"This was our third game in 28 hours. The main thing we want to do is always compete, and I thought we competed all three games. We only came out of it with one win, but we played some pretty good teams," Smith said.
Following Altoona's win over Latrobe, Hollidaysburg advanced to the semis with an 11-9 win over Punxsutawney. Punxsy defeated Latrobe 11-2 prior to the Altoona-Hollidaysburg game.
Central opens tournament action tomorrow back at PNG Field with a quarterfinal matchup versus Forest Hills at 10 a.m. Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic takes on Tyrone at 12:30 p.m. in the final quarterfinal game.
The losers of those two games play at 3 p.m., and the winners meet at 5:30 p.m. with a berth in Saturday morning's championship on the line.
ALTOONA (5): Weyandt ss 411, Bettwy c 311, Blough 2b 403, Lindsey rf 200, Smearman p-cf 000, Riccio dh 401, Diehl cr 010, Eberhart lf 413, Saylor 1b 301, Alwine 3b 402, Stroup cf-p 310. Totals - 31 5 12.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (1): Bukosky ss 312, Smith rf 301, Perry p-1B, 302 McCrystal cr 000, Karageanes 1b-lf 300, Hileman cf 200, Ulery lf-p 300, Miller 2b 301, Hockey 3b 200, Clapper c 300. Totals 25 1 6.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Altoona 040 100 0 - 5 12 2
Hollidaysburg 001 000 0 - 1 6 1
E-Blough, Lindsey, Hockey. 2B-Riccio, Weyandt, Bettwy, Bukosky. 3B-Alwine, Miller. RBIs-Weyandt, Blough, Eberhart, Stroup, Perry. WP-Smearman. LP-Perry. SV-Stroup. SO-Smearman 9, Stroup 5, Perry 3, Ulery 4. BB-Smearman 4, Perry 3.
Records: Altoona (4-4); Hollidaysburg (5-3).
Altoona outlasts Latrobe
Altoona defeated Greater Latrobe, 19-15, in first-round action at PNG Field.
Trent Meyers, Sean Bettwy, Connor Blough, Connor Lindsey and Michael Riccio all collected two hits for Altoona with Lindsey belting a three-run home run.
ALTOONA (19): Meyers cf 402, Stroup cf 120, Bettwy c 332, Blough p-3b-2b 332, Lindsey rf-p 422, Cal. Sanders 3b-p 000, Duffy rf 000, Riccio 412, Weyandt 310, Eberhart lf 320, Saylor 1b 320, Alwine 2b-3b 411. Totals -- 32-19-11.
LATROBE (15): Batista cf-p-cf 410, Smith ph 100, Amatucci c 513, Bradish 1b 431, Massari 3b 241, Cramer lf-cf-lf 423, Boring rf 421, C. Basciano ss 000, Fazekas dh 412, Niper p 100, Poferfield p 000, Seater 000, Lloyd p 000, Leonard p 000, D. Basciano 2b 210, Naggy ph 100. Totals -- 34-15-11.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Altoona 004 007 7 -- 19 11 6
Latrobe 100 361 4 -- 15 12 3
E--Meyers, Bettwy, Blough 3, Weyandt, Amatucci, Massari, C. Basciano. 2b--Bettwy, Riccio, Alwine, Bradish. HR--Lindsey. RBI--Meyers, Bettwy, Blough 2, Lindsey 3, Riccio 2, Weyandt 3, Alwine 2, Amatucci 1, Massari1, Cramer 2, Boring 2, Poferfield, D. Basciano. WP--Cal. Sanders. LP--Leonard. SO--Blough 3, Cal. Sanders 1, Lindsey 2, Niper 1, Lloyd 1, Seater 1, Poferfield 1. BB--Blough 2, Lindsey 3, Niper 2, Batista 3, Seater 5.
Records: Altoona (3-4); Latrobe (5-4).
Tigers start strong
Hollidaysburg scored six runs in the first inning -- thanks mainly to a bases-clearing triple by Tucker Rossman -- and went on to win its first-round game over Puxsutawney, 11-8, at PNG Field.
Matt Smith earned the win and also went 3-for-5 with a double and triple. Landon Perry had two hits and two RBIs, and Joe Bukosky had two hits and two runs.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (11): Bukosky ss 522, Smith p-rf 523, Perry 1b 512, Karageanes rf 421, Miller 2b 000, Hileman cf 131, Ulery lf-p-lf 301, Rossman c 401, McCrystal 010, Banks 3b 300, Hockey 2b-p 401. Totals -- 34-11-12.
PUNXSUTAWNEY (8): Dirger rf 400, Martino ss 000, Tyger DH-p 412, Savage 1b 411, Sikora p 200, wood cr 010, Day 3b 311, J. Miller lf 423, Bennett cf 411, Hallman c 312, Hetrick 2b 401. Totals -- 32-8-11.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Hollidaysburg 601 102 1--11 12 2
Punxsutawney 022 100 3- 8 11 1
E--Bukosky, Perry, Day. 2B--Smith Karageanes, Bennett, J. Miller. 3B--Smith, Hileman, Rossman. RBI--Rossman 4, Perry 2, Smith, Hileman, Banks, J. Miller 2, Bennett, Hallman, Day. WP--Smith. LP--Sikora. SO--Smith 5, Hockey 2, Ulery 1, Sikora 7, Tyger 3. BB--Smith 2, Hockey 1, Sikora 3.
Records: Hollidaysburg (5-2); Punxsutawney (6-1).