Baseball

Albright just what the doctor ordered for AAHS

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

In a game that Altoona coach Tom Smith was hoping most of his starters would have a short outing, the one player he needed to have a long one gave him exactly that.

Gavin Albright, who starred in the Altoona Curve Classic a year ago and helped the Mountain Lions defeat Forest Hills in the championship game, threw five shutout innings and allowed just two hits in a 16-0 win over Curwensville in the first round of this year's tournament Thursday afternoon at PNG Field.

"With potentially eight games in 11 days, it was very important," Smith said. "He did a nice job for us last year when we called him up from junior varsity, and he showed again today that when he can throw his offspeed pitches for strikes, he can be pretty effective."

Before Albright even took the mound, he had a 10-0 lead. Altoona scored 10 runs in the top of the first inning on eight hits, a walk and two errors by Curwensville.

"It was amazing," Albright said. "All my nerves were gone by the time we scored those 10 runs. It just made it a lot easier for me. It was awesome to pitch here again this year after pitching twice last year here. It's a great experience."

Tanner Stroup continued his hot start to the season by going 2-for-2 with a ground rule double, and Sam Royer had a two-run triple off the bench. In all, Altoona played 19 players against the Tide.

"As a coach, you have to prepare for a close game," Smith said. "But we were hoping to get some guys in there who haven't had a chance yet this year, and it played out that everyone got to get out there on the field."

Aaron Smearman, Will Sankey, Connor Sanders and Dante LaRocco had four straight singles in the first inning to help the Mountain Lions break the game open early.

"You can't ask for anything more in the first inning," Smith said. "They helped us a little bit with a couple errors, but our guys had good at bats, put the ball in play and made things happen. We were obviously happy with that 10-run first inning."

From there, Albright threw strikes and allowed just three Curwensville players to reach base on hits by Gavin McDermott and Hunter Tkacik and a walk.

"I was just trying to go out there and throw strikes and throw the curveball for strikes," Albright said. "I was trying to keep hitters from hitting the ball, getting strikeouts and winning the game."

Altoona will play Hollidaysburg in the semifinals today, and Curwensville will play in the consolation game. The Tide are a 1A school from District 9 and understood they had a tough assignment against Class 6A Altoona but wanted to participate in the tournament.

"It's pretty cool, because these guys have never played anywhere like this," Curwensville coach Derek Dixon said. "It wasn't the result we wanted. It's a tough level of competition, but we're just glad to be here. I just shot an email over here to see if it was an option to get a game, and there happened to be an opening in the tournament. Of course we took it, even though it's a tough opponent."

ALTOONA (16): LaRocco cf 221, Wilson cr-cf 010, Freiwald 2b 211, Nicolini 2b 100, Stroup 1b 212, Royer 1b 301, McAllister rf 211, Friedenberger cr-rf 110, Albright p 000, Kraft dh 310, Boslet dh 111, Ca. Sanders 3b 320, Speece 3b 000, Smearman ss 332, Meyers ph 100, Sankey lf 212, McConnell lf 110, Co. Sanders c 101, Gibson ph 100. Totals -- 29-16-12.

CURWENSVILLE (0): Kunkle p-ss 100, Butler ss-cf 200, Pentz 2b 200, Sutika rf 100, Pierce 3b 000, Luzier 3b 000, Tkacik dh 201, Hoyt c 200, Neiswender 1b 200, Nelen lf 200, McDermott cf-p 101, Bloom p 000, Witherite ph 100. Totals -- 16-0-2.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Altoona (10)10 32X X--16 12 0

Curwensville 000 00X X--0 2 3

E--Pierce, Butler, Kunkle. 2B--Stroup. 3B--Royer. RBI--LaRocco, Wilson 2, Freiwald 2, Nicolini, Stroup, Royer 2, McAllister, Meyers, Sankey, Co. Sanders.

PITCHING

Altoona: Albright (W)–5 IP, 2H, 1BB, 7K, 0R, 0ER, 72 pitches.

Curwensville: Kunkle (L)–2 IP, 9H, 3BB, 1HBP, 1K, 11R, 6ER, 73 pitches. McDermott--2 IP, 2H, 1BB, 1K, 3R, 0ER, 37 pitches. Bloom--1 IP, 1H, 4BB, 1K, 2R, 2ER, 30 pitches.

Umpires: Matt Cursio (HP); Bill Wolf (bases).

Records: Altoona (4-2); Curwensville (3-5).