CURVE, Pa. – Austin Meadows doubled down the left-field line in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 22 games, breaking the record for the longest in franchise history, as the Altoona Curve clubbed a season-best 16 hits to defeat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 11-3.
Meadows surpassed the record previously held by Kevin Sefcik, who hit safely in 21 straight games in 2002. In addition to the record-setting hitting streak, Meadows also has an active 27-game on-base streak.
Altoona (33-29) snapped a three-game losing skid with the win against New Hampshire (28-35), who dropped their ninth game over the last 16 games since June began.
Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, Harold Ramirez tied the game with an RBI double and Meadows put the Curve in front with a run-scoring groundout. Stetson Allie crushed a solo homer in the sixth, hit sixth of the year, to extend the Altoona lead to 6-3.
The Curve scored two runs in the seventh with a Jose Osuna sacrifice fly and a Reese McGuire RBI single to take an 8-3 lead over the Fisher Cats.
In the bottom of the eighth, Harold Ramirez, Meadows and Osuna all drove in their second run of the game to give the Curve some insurance runs and take an 11-3 lead into the ninth. Jhondaniel Medina allowed a pair of singles in the ninth, but induced a flyout to right field to seal the win for the Curve.
Eric Wood took Fisher Cats starter Casey Lawrence (Loss, 2-5) deep in the second inning with a solo home run to give the Curve a 1-0 lead, and Altoona manufactured a run in the fourth inning when Wood singled Jose Osuna in, who led the inning off with a double, grabbing a 2-0 advantage.
New Hampshire took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth with three runs scored, aided by two Altoona errors, but the Curve took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run frame, with RBI hits from Ramirez, Meadows and McGuire, making for a 5-3 score.
Both starting pitchers left with two outs in the fifth inning. Curve starter Tyler Eppler logged 4.2 innings of work, scattering six hits and allowing three runs but just one earned run, while walking one and striking out three. Lawrance also tossed 4.2 frames, allowing five runs on nine hits with two strikeouts.
Curve reliever Jared Lakind (Win, 2-0) worked 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Eppler, extending his scoreless streak to 23.2 innings, one out shy of the Altoona single-season franchise record set by Derek Hankins in 2010. Lakind also struck out two batters and retired all seven men he faced.
Six Curve batters had multi-hit nights, led by a 3-for-5 game from Erich Weiss, who also scored three runs.
The Curve and Fisher Cats will play game two of their three-game set at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Right-hander Alex McRae (0-1, 17.18) makes his PNG Field debut in his second start for the Curve, as he opposes Fisher Cats righty Jason Berken (1-6, 5.02).
The series continues on Wedensday night with MEGA Fireworks, the biggest fireworks show ever in the history of Peoples Natural Gas Field, set to follow the game.
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