Crouthamel outduels Gunkle in Silver Creek's Tri-Co win

By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call


Notre Dame grad Greg Crouthamel outdueled Allen alum Josh Gunkle in a battle between two of the Tri-County League's hottest young pitching guns last night in Springtown. Silver Creek beat East Texas 3-1.

Crouthamel ran his record to 3-0, including a pair of shutouts, and the Raiders' (9-4) winning streak to nine games after an 0-4 stumble from the gate. Crouthamel scattered six hits, one in each of the last six innings. All six were singles, and he fanned seven and walked only two.

Crouthamel stuck to the basics: a lively fastball, a sharp, over-the-top curve and excellent control.

"Just those two pitches," he said, "but I changed speeds a lot with the curve. That was my best pitch; I used the curve as my out pitch. I hadn't pitched in a week and a half, so I felt very strong from start to finish."

The one run Crouthamel gave up, in the third inning, was a Hassan DeJesus production from start to finish. DeJesus, also an Allen grad, singled through the middle, stole second and third and dashed home on catcher Craig Geiger's wild throw on the second theft.

"A real good win for us," commented Silver Creek (a.k.a The Easton Alumni Association) manager Steve Smull. "After that nightmare start, we've won nine in a row, so we're getting back into the top third of the league. Yes, we're leading the (Central) division, but, to be honest, we expect to be on top of this division.

"We're trying to catch up and get even with Stahley's and Gilbertsville to be among the league's elite. But we put ourselves in a deep hole with that start."

Unbeaten Stahley's is 12-0 atop the North Division, while Gilbertsville (9-3) is 2-1/2 games ahead of East Texas (8-7) in the South.

Gunkle was every bit as much in command as Crouthamel, if not more so, last night but he wound up with the short end of the stick. Using the identical formula (fastball, curveball), Gunkle only allowed three hits.

But his control was quite as sharp as Crouthamel's. He walked five and hit a batter -- and the freebies figured in all three Raiders' runs.

Silver Creek, whose starting lineup boasted six Easton alums, got an unearned run in the second when Joe Cuvo blooped a "jam-job" single to left after Darren "Boo" Sutton reached on an error and Craig Geiger walked.

It added another in the third when Sutton bounced into a force at second with the bases loaded. The bases became loaded when Steve Smull got an infield single, Mike Drumbore walked and Matt Smull accepted a slow curve with his rib cage.

The Raiders' final run, in the sixth, came without benefit of a hit. M. Smull and Geiger walked and Smull eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Both Smulls, Sutton, Cuvo, shortstop Dave Hartranft and first baseman Jason Young are all ex-Red Rovers.

"When you have two good young pitchers like Greg and Gunkle, you're going to get a quick game," S. Smull commented. "We've faced Gunkle before, and he's tough to beat."

Uh ... what was behind the slow start, coach? Were you shorthanded?

"Nope," Smull said. "Nothing like that at all. We had all our personnel. It was Murphy's Law: everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong."

In the Raiders' last nine games, however, nothing's gone wrong.



ted.meixell@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- June 16, 1995

Copyright © 1995, The Morning Call