Wildcats Baseball Skid at Three
ALTOONA — A week ago the Central Mountain baseball team was on a six-game winning streak and could do little wrong. At mid-week this week the Wildcats, now 8-5, are on a three-game skid and wondering what hit them.
Most recently was a 5-2 loss at 6-and-8 Altoona on Tuesday; previously undefeated Zach Skrtich was the hard-luck loser and for the third game in a row the Central Mountain offense struggled.
Skrtich pitched a complete game 6-hitter with nine strikeouts but he was done in by the Wildcat defense. Altoona scored three runs in the first inning on two CM errors and two more in the fourth which saw another Wildcat error.
Central Mountain plated its only runs in the fifth on a bases-loaded single from Cayden Stover, driving in Darin Masorti and Ryan Yost.
The Wildcats were held to four singles, one each from Stover, Yost, Skrtich and Clayton Butler.
The Mountain Lions (6-8) broke a two game losing streak, including a 7-2 loss to Bald Eagle Area on Monday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| ALTOONA | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 6 | 4 |
Monday Central Mountain saw a 15-4 five inning waxing administered by State College, the previous Friday a 4-3 loss to Penns Valley.
The Monday game was a ballgame into the second inning, Central Mountain with a 3-0 lead after one. But once Wildcat starter (and previously unbeaten) Toner Corl had a line drive single carom off his shin, Corl and the team came undone.
State proceeded to put up five runs and drive Corl from the mound in the second; as a point of reference, the Wildcat sophomore had surrendered but two runs total in three previous complete game starts.
State would go on to pepper four Central Mountain pitchers for 15 hits and 15 runs, including an 8-spot in the top of the fifth to run the score to 15-4. When Central Mountain failed to score in the bottom of the inning, the game ended on the 10-run rule.
Two State pitchers, Oliver Dailey and Keith LeBaron, held Central Mountain to a season-low two hits, an RBI double from Kenny Heverly in the first and a swinging-bunt single from Clayton Butler in the third.
In terms of seeding for the upcoming District 6 playoffs, the losses to State College and Altoona were costly. State is now 10-3, Altoona 6-8 and the Wildcats 8-5. The district’s other Quad-A team, Mifflin County, checks in at 8-6.
Next up for Central Mountain is a home game with St. Marys (4-8) on Friday.
