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By Matt Michelone
For the Mirror
During the first, second and fifth innings, Hollidaysburg found themselves with two outs on all three occasions during Thursday's Altoona Curve Classic game with Tyrone.
Each time the Golden Tigers kept the Golden Eagles from ending the frame as they scored a combined seven runs in those situations and went on to grab the 8-1 victory at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
"You preach that all of the time, Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said. "Trying to score with two outs is really big, and when that happens, that can really help you out, and it helped our pitcher out. Everything seemed to work today."
Tyrone coach Kevin Sollener noted that his team has had challenges putting innings away this season.
"That's been a thing in a bunch of games," he said. "Most of the runs against us are all with two outs, it's crazy. I don't know if we're letting down, but the breaks didn't go our way either. Carson's (Kensinger) a really good pitcher. His ball moves a lot, he's always been good."
The Tigers will face Altoona tonight in the nightcap for the chance to play in Saturday's tournament championship.
In the first inning Thursday, Kensinger reached on a two-out single, later scoring on a Jake Hileman single to break the ice. Drew Banks later added a two-run double scoring Hileman and Ethan Karageanes for a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, Brady Steiner reached on a double and traded places with Keagan Hockey on the next at-bat for a 4-0 advantage.
"We never let go," Kensinger said of the Tigers efforts at the plate. "No matter what the score is, no matter how many outs, we're going to keep the approach at the plate and do what we need to do to get the runs in because you can never have enough run support."
In the fourth inning, after Tyrone scored on a Tiger error, they answered as Hileman belted a two-run single, and Cayden Gibbons chipped in with an RBI single to blow the game open at 7-1.
Hileman went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
Kensinger supported his own efforts on the mound as he struck out 10 batters in six innings, allowing one run and one walk. He was 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored.
"We have really good defenders out there," he said. "I'm blessed to have a team like that. We're not going to be perfect, but I know every time a ball is going to be put in play, they're going to put their 100 percent out there."
Szynal saluted his senior hurler's efforts.
"Very competitive kid, throws all of the pitches for strikes, gets ahead of batters," he said. "When he gets a little bit of a cushion like that, he's pretty tough. He's been a good pitcher for us for years. We count on him for a lot."
Tyrone will get a matchup with Curwensville this afternoon in one of the consolation games.
TYRONE (1): Coleman cf 400, A. Walk ss 301, Hamer c 301, Oakes dh 312, Postreich p 000, Seeger p 000, Kustenbauder rf 200, B. McClure 3b 200, C. McClure 1b 300, Lehner 2b 300, Light lf 301. Totals: 26-1-5.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (8): Steiner ss 411, Hockey 2b 311, Kensinger p-dh 422, Ulery p 000, Karageanes 1b 422, Hileman cf 423, Banks 3b 403, Gibbons c 402, Michaels rf 200, Szynal lf 301. Totals: 32-8-15.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Tyrone 000 100 1 - 1 5 1
Hollidaysburg 310 301 X - 8 15 2
E - Lehner; Karageanes, Michaels. 2B - Steiner, Hockey, Gibbons. RBI - Hockey, Hileman 4, Banks 2, Gibbons.
PITCHING
TYRONE: Postreich (L), 3.2 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO; Seeger 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO.
HOLLIDAYSBURG: Kensinger (W), 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO; Ulery 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.
Records: Tyrone (2-5), Hollidaysburg (4-2).