Carr Pitches Brockway Past Brookville

BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Corey Carr couldn’t get his slider to work early on in Brockway’s 6-3 win at Brookville Monday.

So the Rover lefty went to Plan B and threw a lot of curve balls and fastballs with an occasional changeup mixed in.

And Plan B quickly became Plan A, as Carr shutdown Brookville allowing just one earned run and five hits in throwing the 99-pitch complete game. He walked four and struck out five.

“You really can’t single out one good pitch with him,” Brockway manager Terry Moore said. “He got on the hill today and battled and did what he needed to do to get the win for us.”

Carr was able to keep Brookville’s batters off balance inducing 11 groundball outs including one double play. That included a high number of balls back to Carr – seven in all – that the pitcher fielded cleanly all seven times.

“The one thing about Corey Carr, he’s an all-around baseball player,” Moore said. “He can pitch. He’s a good hitter. He’s also a good fielder. He understands each position that he plays. It’s really second nature to him to field a ground ball and throw out to first. He did a great job.”

Here Carr’s take on his performance and the win.

While Carr was keeping Brookville in check, the Brockway offense was workmanlike.

The Rovers used small ball to score single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.

Hunter Antonuccio led off the game with a single to left then stole second, moved to third on a groundout to the mound by Angelo Inzana and then scored on a single to center by Mike Martino.

Martino, who was 2-for-2 with three RBIs on the day, drove in a run the hard way in the third when he was hit by a Ben Reitz pitch with the bases loaded forcing home Alex Lindemuth, who had started the rally with a one-out infield single behind the mound. Antonuccio then walked and Inzana singled to load the bases.

“We put a few good innings together and scored a few runs,” Moore said. “We did what we had to do to win the game.”

Brookville got back in the game in the bottom of the fourth cutting the Brockway lead to 2-1 when Trent Gilhousen’s double down the leftfield line scored Jordan Tosh all the way from first. Tosh had singled leading off the inning.

But a bigger threat for Brookville didn’t develop when a base-running error by Gilhousen turned into a rare 6-3-5 double play when Gilhousen tried to advance to third on a throw to first on a grounder by Austin Cook to short.

Brockway then added to its lead in the top of the fifth scoring three times including a big one-out, two-run single by Inzana, one of two hits on the day for the centerfielder, that made it 4-1.

“If I remember right, he battled in that at bat,” Moore said. “It might have been a full count. He went up there and battled. He’s another kid who’s been out sick. This was his first game back. He went up there and had a solid at bat and came through in the clutch.”

Carr then helped himself with a sac fly to left to make it 5-1.

Those runs came in handy when Brookville scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth on a Tosh sac fly to center and a play that seems to be as old as the game itself in Brookville.

With runners on first and third with two outs, Ben Caun faked like he was tying his shoe drawing a pickoff throw from Carr. Caun then got caught in a rundown long enough to allow pinch runner Mike Keth to score from third with the Raiders third run.

But that was pretty much the last rally by Brookville, as the Raiders managed just one baserunner, a one-out walk by Logan Thrush in the seventh, against Carr in the final two innings.

Brockway, meanwhile, added an insurance run in the seventh without the benefit of a hit.

Antonuccio, who scored three times, led off with a walk, stole second and moved to third on on a passed ball before scoring on a Martino sac fly to center.

“We were down two starters today because of illness,” Moore said. “Guys stepped up in their place and did a good job.”

BROCKWAY 6, BROOKVILLE 3

BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Behind a strong pitching performance from Corey Carr and some timely hitting, visiting Brockway knocked off Brookville 6-3.

Carr needed 99 pitches to throw a complete-game five-hitter. He walked four and struck out five while allowing just one earned run.

At the plate, Michael Martino drove home three runs for the Rovers while going 2-for-2 with a double while also hitting a sacrifice fly and getting hit with a pitch with the bases loaded. Angelo Inzana added a pair of hits including key two-run single in the fifth inning that turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 advantage. Hunter Antonuccio added a pair of hits, including a double, while scoring three times.

Trent Gilhousen had an RBI double for Brookville, while Jordan Tosh had the Raiders other RBI on a sac fly. Brookville also stole a run on a play where the runner at first intentionally got into a run down to allow a run to score.

Ben Reitz took the loss giving up five runs on seven hits, a walk and a hit batter in 4 ⅓ innings of work. Gavin Park threw 1 ⅔ scoreless allowing one hit, to the first batter he faced. He struck out two and walked one. Dane Lyle gave up one unearned run despite not allowing a hit. He walked a batter and struck out one.