Curran’s Hit in Eighth Gives Rocky Grove Revenge vs. Serra Catholic

| June 6, 2017

Connor Curran Rocky Grove
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (EYT) – Rocky Grove had to wait for one year for a chance to extract revenge on Serra Catholic, who ended on the Orioles season in the second round of the PIAA playoffs a year ago.

(Photo: Conner Curran, who had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the eighth for Rocky Grove)

It was a different story Monday evening, as Conner Curran belted a fly ball over the head of Serra Catholic left fielder Mike Ulishney scoring Tyler Knupp with the winning run in the bottom of the eight, as Rocky Grove topped the Eagles, 2-1, at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.

The Curran hit capped a frantic final two innings for the Orioles, which trailed 1-0 going to the seventh before Brock Wilson singled home pinch runner Justin Heller on a two-strike, two-out pitch to force extra innings.

“We were down the entire game pretty much,” Rocky Grove manager Bill Wilson, whose team trailed 1-0 from the second inning on.

Curran got the seventh started with a leadoff single. Heller came in as a pinch runner for Curran and moved to third on back-to-back groundouts by Hunter Bruner and Dylan Rodemoyer.

That brought up Wilson, who was 1-for-2 on the day already.

“I didn’t say anything to Brady because Brady was on today,” Bill Wilson said. “You don’t mess with somebody’s who’s on. I just give him all the credit for coming through and getting the team up.”

Wilson got himself into scoring position by stealing second, but Seth Wilson struck out to end the inning.

Knupp, who replaced Travis Perry to start the seventh on the mound for Rocky Grove, then worked around a leadoff double in the top of the eight by Pat Brennan, who went to third on a Ulishney deep fly ball with one out.

Knupp, however, was able to get Ben Visnesky to ground out the shortstop giving the Orioles their second chance at revenge on Serra Catholic in the bottom of the 8th.

Nate Piontka took over on the mound in the eighth for Serra Catholic replacing Visnesky, who gave up one run on five hits, a walk and a hit batter in seven innings of work while striking out three.

After Piontka struck out Koby Winslow, Knupp sneaked a stand-up double down the third baseline putting the winning run in scoring position.

“Their third baseman wasn’t even looking,” Wilson said of Knupp’s double. “He was looking somewhere else and didn’t know his pitcher had the ball otherwise he might have made that play.”

The Eagles then intentionally walked Travis Perry before Josh Kirwin popped out to shortstop. Curran then came through with the play of the game as he crushed a 1-2 fastball over the head of left fielder Ulishney scoring Knupp and putting the Orioles in the PIAA quarterfinals where they’ll meet Bishop McCort, a 4-0 winner over Freedom.

“This was one of the toughest teams in the state,” Bill Wilson said. “I know that. They’re right up there with anybody. They’re a very good baseball team, I’ll tell you that.”

Serra Catholic got on the board first when Zak Bowen and Mark Black drew back-to-back walks to begin the second inning off Travis Perry. Ben Bowen’s groundout moved the two runners into scoring position, and Jeff Cella’s fly ball to right field was deep enough to score Bowen.

Rocky Grove had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the second when Bruner doubled with one out. Rodemoyer, though, just missed extra bases when his fly ball down the left-field line was run down by Ulishney, and Brock Wilson also hit the ball hard to straight away center. But again the play was made by Eagles center fielder Ben Bowen ending the threat.

The Orioles stranded another runner in scoring position in the third when Winslow singled with one out and stole second with two outs. But Perry popped out to shallow right to end the inning.

Perry, meanwhile, was rocking for Rocky Grove and despite being down 1-0 carried a no-hitter into the fifth when it was broken up by a two-out single by Brennan that put runners on first and second, and a wild pitch moved those runners to second and third. But Ulishney flew out to center to end the threat.

Brock Wilson then doubled with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Seth Wilson popped out and first baseman Neil Hartnett made a fantastic stop on a ball hit by Winslow and tossed to Visnesky covering first base to end the inning.

“Their defense was incredibly tough,” Bill Wilson said. “You can’t take anything away from them. We had runners in scoring position several times, and they kept making plays on us.”

Serra again got a runner to second in the sixth with two outs before Mark Black flew out to deep center where Kirwin tracked it down for the final out.

That ended Perry’s day, as he went six innings

He gave up the one run on one hit while striking out six and walking four.

“The one hit didn’t hurt him,” Bill Wilson said. “It was the two walks and the fly ball. Tyler did a great job all game, but we had to take him out because his pitch count was too large.”

Perry tried to help himself get in position for the win when he drew a one-out walk in the sixth and stole second when Kirwan struck out. But he was picked off second, and Rocky Grove came up empty again.

The Orioles task doesn’t get any easier when they take on Bishop McCort Thursday at a site and time to be announced. McCort went to the PIAA title game a year ago before losing to Neumann-Goretti.

“I don’t know anything about Bishop McCort,” Bill Wilson said. “But they went to the state championship last year. They’re good.”

McCort is managed by Clarion University graduate Chris Pfeil.

ROCKY GROVE 2, SERRA CATHOLIC 1, 8 INNINGS

Score by Innings

Serra Catholic 010 000 00 – 1
Rocky Grove 000 000 11 – 2

SERRA CATHOLIC – 1

Mike Ulishney LF 4000, Nate Piontka ss 4000, Ben Visnesky p 4000, Zak Bowen 2b 3100, Mark Black c 3000, Ben Bowen cf 3000, Jeff Cella dh 3001, Anthony Alexandra rf 3000, Pat Brennan 3b 3020, Neil Hartnett 1b 0000. Totals: 30-1-3-1.

ROCKY GROVE – 2

Koby Winslow 2b 4010, Tyler Knupp ss 4110, Travis Perry p 4000, Josh Kirwin cf 4000, Conner Curran 1b 4021, Justin Heller pr 0100, Hunter Brumer rf 3010, Dylan Rodemoyer c 3000. Brock Wilson lf 3021, Seth Wilson 3b 3000. Totals: 32-2-7-2.

LOB: Serra Catholic 5, Rocky Grove 7. SB: Winslow, T. Perry. 2b: Brennan, Wilson, Bruner, Knupp.

PITCHING

Serra Catholic

Ben Visnesky – 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HP
Nate Piontka – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
TOTALS – 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HP

Rocky Grove

Travis Perry – 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 0 HP
Tyler Knupp – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
TOTALS – 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 0 HP

Winning Pitcher, Tyler Knupp
Losing Pitcher, Nate Piontka


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