JOHNSTOWN —
Mel Curtis’ team survived to give him his first national AAABA victory – but it wasn’t easy.
In sweltering heat and humidity, Curtis’ Johnston Realty team from Altoona scored two runs in the top of the 13th inning to outlast New Brunswick 8-6.
Andy Glass drove in Christian Muth and Nick Eversole’s double scored Josh Gallagher to give Altoona two runs and another game today, this time against Toledo.
“All these kids I’m proud of today. I thought they did a great job,” Curtis said after the marathon game. “Thirteen innings of baseball in this heat and humidity? It would have been easy for someone to pack it in and walk away.”
Altoona charged out to a 4-1 lead and led most of the game until the Great Middlesex Matrix charged back from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game at 6 in a battle at Fichtner Field.
That led to the heroics by Glass, who was leading off the game Tuesday in a shuffled lineup by Curtis.
“I just got up there knowing I had to hit the ball and score,” Glass said of the RBI. “I was dead tired anyway, so I figured that if he was going to throw me a first pitch there, I was going to hit it. It worked out, going through the hole.”
Altoona asserted control in the top of the first against Matrix starter Connor Henderson. Glass led off with a single and Jake Weibley reached base on an error, putting runners at the corners. Neil Schroth stroked an RBI single to center to score Glass, and John Shaffer’s ground out allowed Weibley to score for a 2-0 advantage. Tommy Bush singled to plate Schroth for a 3-0 advantage.
Henderson then experienced control problems, walking three, and the pass to Kyle Mann plated Bush for the 4-0 advantage.
New Brunswick tallied a single run in the bottom of the first against Altoona starter Sean Dixon when Matt Cesare singled and was brought home by Mike Muha’s single to left to narrow the lead to 4-1.
The teams were scoreless until the seventh when Altoona tallied a run in the top of the first and the Matrix scored three to narrow the advantage to 5-4.
Altoona scored a single run in the top of the ninth, but New Brunswick scored twice in the bottom of the inning and came within a close call at first of winning the game.
The Matrix’s Muha reached first in the ninth on a misjudged fly ball and scored on a single by Dave Goodman to pull within one at 6-5.
Curtis then inserted Monday’s starter, Andy Lytle, to relieve Bush. Lytle walked Juan Perdomo and Tim Kurucz to load the bases.
Jorge Rivera then executed a perfect suicide squeeze to score Goodman and tie the game at 6. Rivera beat the throw to first to keep the bases loaded.
However, with their backs against the wall, Altoona turned a beautiful 6-4-3 double play to nix the Matrix comeback and set up extra innings.
New Brunswick, which lost to Martella’s Pharmacy on Monday after leading in the game, was disappointed.
“The trademark of our club is we’re never going to quit,” Matrix manager Glenn Fredericks said. “We just kept fighting, fighting, fighting. We just couldn’t squeak that winning run across, and they got us in the end.”
Lytle earned the win for Altoona.
“Andy’s a bulldog. He’s always ready,” Curtis said. “When the game was over he walked back into the dugout and said ‘I’m ready to go relieve tomorrow.’ That’s just his personality.”
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