Fannett-Metal(11-4) advanced to the Altoona Curve Invitational Championship Game with a 18-7 victory over Claysburg Kimmel in the semi finals on Friday afternoon at PNG Park.  The Championship game was originally scheduled for Saturday at noon, but Altoona Curve officials decided to move the game up to Friday evening due to anticipated rain on Saturday.  The Tigers opponent in the title game was Greater Latrobe (15-4), a 4A school from the Pittsburgh Area.

The Wildcats struck for two runs in the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead.  The Tigers pushed one run across in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1.  Drew Goshorn reached on an error and moved to 3rd on a single by Jake Coffman.  Landon Arnold’s RBI sacrifice fly plated Goshorn.  That would be the only run the Tigers would scored off Wildcat pitchers Hayden Porterfield and Vincent Goskey.  Wade Appleby had a pair of hits including a triple.  Drew Goshorn had a triple and Jake Coffman had the other Tigers hit.  

The Wildcats scored in every inning but one against four different Tigers pitchers.  Daxten Detweiler got the starting nod.  Detweiler pitched two innings before giving way to Adam Hammond.  Hammond pitched two innings and was replaced by Broc Hostler for two innings.  Noah Naugle pitched the 7th. 

Tiger pitchers gave up only 5 hits but issued 13 walks and hit batters in the game.  “Our pitchers gave it their best effort but we had too many walks in the game and they gradually pulled away.  I think they were in a better position to handle the change in the schedule than we were.  They issued only one walk in the game and their last pitcher, Vincent Goskey was hitting 90 mph on the radar,”  Coffman said.  One of the highlight’s of the game for the Tigers was center fielder Jake Coffman throwing out a Wildcat baserunner at home plate who was tagging on a fly ball.  

In the semi final game the Tigers beat Claysburg Kimmel 18-7.  The Tigers touched up Bulldog pitching for 17 hits.  Every batter in the lineup had a hit in the game.  Adam Hammond and Daxten Detweiler led the way with 3 hits each.  Drew Goshorn, Jake Coffman, Landon Arnold, Wade Appleby and Noah Naugle all had a pair of hits.  Tucker Seibert and Broc Hostler added a hit each.  Drew Goshorn had a double and Landon Arnold launched a 2RBI triple off the right field wall.  

Tigers starter Landon Arnold pitched four innings to get the win.  Reliever Logan Hall pitched the next two innings before the mercy rule ended the game.  

“It was a great two days of baseball for our team.  The Wildcats snapped our 10 game winning streak but the boys really played good baseball and enjoyed the atmosphere of playing in such an awesome ball park.  The Curve officials treated us very good and our fans were great, just a tremendous overall experience”, Coffman said.  

The Tigers return home on Tuesday for a double header with Southern Huntingdon with the first game game scheduled for 2:00.