ALTOONA, PA – The Trenton Thunder slowly built a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 7th inning, and a strong pitching effort by four Thunder arms combined for a 3-1 victory over the Altoona Curve Saturday night.
Before a packed Peoples Natural Gas Field with 8,120 fans, the Thunder scored single runs in the 3rd, 5th and 7th innings to give starting pitcher Eric Ruth a cushion heading into the bottom of the 7th. Altoona rallied with a one-out double by Adam Frazier, who scored a few pitches later when Max Moroff delivered a ground ball through the hole on the right side of the infield for an RBI single.
Ruth was lifted after 6.1 innings of one-run ball which lowered his ERA below 3.00 on the season. The Winthrop University product is now 9-4 with a 2.94 ERA while allowing eight hits and striking out five batters on the night. Out of the bullpen, Conor Mullee and Cesar Vargas bridged the gap to the 9th inning with 1.2 scoreless innings before turning the ball over the Mark Montgomery. Though the Curve notched a pair of hits in the 9th inning, Erich Weiss struck out to end the game as the game-winning run at the plate. Montgomery collected his second save in three days and improved to 16-for-19 this season in save opportunities.
Offensively, the Thunder received RBIs from Jake Cave, Tyler Wade and Rob Segedin in the victory—in spite of the fact they were outhit by the Curve, 11-8. Wade (2-for-4) was the lone Thunder batter to finish with multiple hits and with his RBI single in the 3rd inning, Segedin notched an RBI in 8 of his last 10 games played.
The Trenton Thunder and Altoona Curve return to action Sunday night for Trenton’s final road game of the regular season. Following Sunday’s contest the team will pile on the bus for the final time as they return home to ARM & HAMMER Park for nine games over the final eight days of the season beginning Monday. Sunday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. with pre-game coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. on 91.3 FM WTSR or online at www.trentonthunder.com.
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