Altoona Curve manager Tony Beasley is well-known for his calm, easy manner. The first-year Curve skipper is not one to climb the heights or dive into an abyss, preferring to stay on level territory. If his young, talented team can learn to do the same, area fans could be in for quite a summer, challenging even the 2003 playoff run.
After jumping off to four straight wins to match the best start ever, Altoona came tumbling down in a hurry, dropping both games of a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader to Northern Division Norwich. Norwich belted three home runs, two doubles and a triple among 11 base hits to take the first game, which began at noon 8-0, then outpitched Ian Snell and the Curve in the second contest 3-0.
“You have to tip your hat to their pitching,” said Beasley after the twinbill. “You hate to see your guys struggle at the plate, but their guys did do a good job at keeping the ball in and out, taking a little off and putting a little on. They did a good job of changing speeds and keeping us off-balance. As a team, I don’t think we did a good job making adjustments. I thought we got a little pull-happy and stayed with that, instead of making them bring the ball up and driving it up the middle of the field. Their pitching really handed it to us today, there are no excuses.”
On the day, Curve hitters could manage just four hits in the opener and one more in the second game for a total of five hits. Just one Altoona base runner reached as far as third base as the Pirate Double-A affiliate was outmatched all day on both offense and defense.
In the second game, Snell pitched out of jams in nearly every inning, allowing nine hits, but made just one pitch that really hurt. That was a home run by Norwich veteran Michael Cervanak, which cleared the left field bleachers and landed in the grass beyond. Cervanak slugged three home runs in the doubleheader, to become the first player to hit three dingers in one day at Blair County Ballpark.
Snell (1-1) has now allowed just one earned run in 10 innings on the mound, but suffered the loss with his teammates unable to give him any help offensively.
After Jeffrey Clark retired the first 11 Altoona batters he faced, Curve first baseman Ray Navarrete broke up the Norwich hurler’s bid for a no-hitter by drilling a double down the left field line. Clark got the third out of the inning, one batter later, on a vicious line drive back to the box, off the bat of Josh Bonifay that sort of seemed to symbolize the entire day for the Curve. Clark took the shot off his glove and calmly threw out Bonifay to end any possible threat.
Clark was done for the game after four innings so he could get back into the Navigators starting rotation on Sunday. Mitch Walk finished the ballgame for Norwich with three hitless innings to pick up the win-since a starter must pitch five complete innings to earn a win, Clark was not eligible.
With the Navigators leading just 1-0 through the first six innings, Norwich broke through against Altoona reliever Jeff Miller for two insurance runs and the 3-0 win in game two.The big hit was a two-run double by Tyler Vonschell.
In addition to Vonschell and Cervanak, Norwich leadoff batter Bryan Carter had four straight hits, including a double and Daniel Ortmeier singles, doubles and was hit by a pitch.
In the opener, Norwich righty Chris Begg and Curve starter Landon Jacobsen matched zeros on the scoreboard through the first two innings, before Carlos Valderrama, with major league experience, lined a home run to the left field bleachers to break the scoreless tie in the top of the third inning and two batters later, Cervanak unloaded a long dinger that landed at the top of the bleachers beyond the left field fence.
In the fourth inning Norwich batted around to score five times against Jacobsen and Ben Shaffar. Cervanak had a two-run homer that cleared the centerfield fence 400 feet from home plate. Valderrama crunched a double to score a run and Angel Chavez followed him with a triple to right. Derek McMains drove in the first two runs of the inning with a double to right-center.
The Curve attempted to get back into the game in their half of the fourth. Chris Duffy, who was leading the Eastern League in batting average (.563) before the doubleheader, and Nate McLouth hit back-to-back singles to open the frame. Begg got Kevin Nicholson to ground into a fielders choice and Navarrete into a double play to stop the Curve in their tracks.
“I’m not a big strikeout guy or anything like that,” explained Begg. “I’m just a ground-ball guy, just try to get them (opposing batters) to pit the ball in play and let my defense work for me. We have good guys back there. Cervanak (third base) made a couple nice plays, Chavez (shortstop) got a lot of chances. That’s my game. I’m a little bit used to throwing in the cold weather. I went to school in Niagara University in New York. This is almost warm compared to there.”
Curve pitching was slammed for nine extra base hits, a fact not missed by Beasley- “Every mistake pitch we made, we made some mistakes, every mistake we made, they hit hard. No excuses, we didn’t get it done and they executed a good game plan. They did everything that you want a team to do. They played solid defense, and they hit the ball hard. The few balls we hit hard seemed to be right at someone. There just wasn’t a lot happen in out favor today.
“Through the course of the season there are going to be days like this. We just have to endure them and keep going. You can’t allow the season to take you on rollercoasters, highs and lows. You have to stay on an even keel. We know that this is just one day, unfortunately it’s two games, but it’s one day. The beauty of this game is that you come back tomorrow.”
Altoona travels to Harrisburg for a four-game series with the Senators before coming back to Blair County Ballpark for three games against Bowie beginning Monday, April 19.
