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After an 11-day absence, the Curve will finally return to Blair County Ballpark to begin a pivotal three-day four-game series with division rival Erie on Friday night at 7.05pm
The Curve currently trail the SeaWolves by 4-1/2 games for the final playoff spot in the Eastern League's Southern Division

--Friday's series opener will feature post-game fireworks presented by Envision Laser Centers

--Sunday's series finale to be contested at 6.05pm will also feature a post-game fireworks spectacular
Also on Sunday, all kids will be invited to run the BCB bases following the ballgame

--In between the two fireworks shows, the Curve and SeaWolves will play a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 5.35pm
BCB gates will open early at 4.30pm as the Curve and the Teeter Group present the Curve Hat Giveway to the first 2,000 fans of all ages

This weekend series includes the Curve's final home games before a regular season-ending eight-game homestand against the Harrisburg Senators and the Reading Phillies (August 23rd-30th)

The Result
Game One - SeaWolves - 2 runs to 1
Game Two - SeaWolves - 3 runs to 0

The Curve - Year-to-Date
64 wins and 60 losses

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Game One
----------Playing - First base
----------Batting - #4
Game Two
----------Playing - Leftfield
----------Batting - #4

Brett's at-bats - Game One
First plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at second base - two down
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

That first pitch is hit off the end of the bat and goes towards the third-baseman ...... out 5 to 3
Second plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

A four pitch walk
The audio also includes Brett being forced out at second base on a fielder's choice hit by the next Curve batter
During the at-bat, the commentator mentions that Brett has a new 'Batting Song' ...... he is not sure of what it's called, but said it sounds like salsa music
Third plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

"Brett Roneberg smokes one into rightfield" ...... single ...... and Brett is now the tying run in a '2-1' ballgame here in the bottom of the sixth innings
The audio also includes the next batter grounding out and Brett being left stranded at the end of the innings

Brett's at-bats - Game Two
First plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

Ground ball towards the SeaWolves first-baseman who flips to the pitcher covering the base ...... out 3 to 1
Second plate appearance
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

High chopping ground ball towards first base and the fielder flips to the pitcher covering the base ...... out 3 to 1
Third plate appearance
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
......and now click on the "PLAY" button

Called strike three to end the ballgame!!!
...... and refer to the video highlights below

At the end of the Game
Game One - 1 hit from 2 at-bats - single, 1 x walk
Game Two - 0 hit from 3 at-bats - 1 x strike out
TOTAL - 1 hit from 5 at-bats - single, 1 x walk, 1 x strike out

Heard during the game

Email from Brett

Game Reports

Game One

Making his Double-A debut, Seawolves' right-hander Burke Badenhop carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and turned in a complete-game, two-hitter as the Curve were silenced in a 2-1 Erie win

Badenhop was sensational, not permitting a hit to Altoona until Adam Boeve homered with two outs in the sixth inning to break up the no-hit and shutout bids
Badenhop (1-0) recovered however, and finished off the ballgame and the Curve to earn his first Double-A win

Badenhop allowed just two hits over his seven innings, as Brett Roneberg's sixth inning single was the only other offense the Curve could muster

Erie staked Badenhop to the lead before he took the hill, scoring the game's first run in the top of the first off of Curve starter Yoslan Herrera
Clete Thomas singled to lead off the ballgame and was balked to second base by Herrera
A batter later he scored on a Matt Joyce ground out to give Erie a 1-0 advantage

The SeaWolves padded their lead with a second run in the third inning
Jeff Larish tripled off of Herrera with one out and came home for a 2-0 lead on a sacrifice fly contributed by Michael Hernandez

Herrera (6-7) allowed just those two runs and five hits while also going the distance, but was tagged with his seventh loss of the season as the Curve fell 6-1/2 games behind the SeaWolves in the Southern Division

Game Two

The Curve remained lifeless offensively as Erie starter Randor Bierd retired the first 15 batters of the ballgame and the SeaWolves one-hit the Curve in a 3-0 game two shutout victory

Bierd, making a spot-start out of the SeaWolves' bullpen, was perfect through five innings before being removed due to a pitch count

Jason Delaney promptly broke up another Erie no-hit bid with a lead off single off of reliever Corey Hamman in the sixth, but it was the only hit Altoona collected in game two

Bierd (3-1) struck out four over five perfect innings and earned the win for Erie

Curve starter Todd Redmond, making his third start of the season for the Curve, pitched well but was tagged with his first loss of the season

Redmond (1-1) did get off to a rocky start in the first inning, walking leadoff hitter Clete Thomas and permitting a single to Mike Hollimon
That set the stage for Jeff Larish, who belted his 24th home run of the season over the right field wall for a 3-0 Erie lead

With the blast, Larish reclaimed the Eastern League lead in home runs

Hamman turned in two scoreless innings of relief to earn his first save of the season

The loss did serious damage to the Curve's playoff hopes as they fell 7-1/2 games behind Erie in the Southern Division

The series will conclude on Sunday evening at 6.05pm
Curve righty Kip Bouknight (11-4, 3.72) will make the start against RHP Eddie Bonine (12-5, 3.68) for the SeaWolves

The SeaWolves took down the Altoona Curve in game one of Saturday night’s doubleheader by a score of 2-1

Burke Badenhop made his Double-A debut for the ‘Wolves and did not disappoint
Badenhop went the distance allowing a run on just two hits

The ‘Wolves struck first in the top of the first inning
Clete Thomas led off the game with a base hit and got to second on a balk
The single for Thomas was his team-leading 130th of the season
Thomas also entered Saturday night fourth in the league in hits
Thomas got to third on a deep fly ball of the bat of Mike Hollimon and scored on a Matt Joyce groundout for a 1-0 Erie lead

The ‘Wolves added a run in the top of the fourth inning
Jeff Larish tripled to right with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Hernandez making it 2-0 Erie

The Curve got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, breaking up Badenhop’s no-hit effort
After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Badenhop gave up a solo home run to Adam Boeve to make it 2-1

Badenhop came back to work the seventh inning and shut down the side in order including a strikeout of Brian Peterson to end the game

Badenhop (1-0) tossed the ‘Wolves ninth complete game of the season which leads the league

The complete game was the second of the season for Badenhop and the fifth of his career
His other complete game came in a doubleheader against Tampa on July 19

The win for the ‘Wolves improved the club to 6-3 against the Curve and 4-1 in doubleheader games against their Southern Division rival

It was also the fifth straight win for Erie over Altoona

The SeaWolves tossed a one-hit shutout en route to a 3-0 win and a doubleheader sweep of the Altoona Curve on Saturday night at Blair County Ballpark

The ‘Wolves are now alone atop the Southern Division in first place

The SeaWolves once again struck first in the top of the first inning
Clete Thomas led off the game with a walk
Thomas has now led off five straight games and reached safely
Mike Hollimon singled to put two on for Matt Joyce
Joyce struck out bringing Jeff Larish to the plate
Larish stepped in and crushed his league-leading 24th home run
The three-run shot put the ‘Wolves ahead 3-0

Larish also regained the league lead with 89 RBI

The three runs would be enough for the ‘Wolves who were paced by stellar pitching
Starting pitcher Randor Bierd (3-1) tossed five perfect innings for the SeaWolves in a spot start
Bierd struck out four batters in the game and left after 53 pitches

The Curve again broke up a SeaWolves no-hit bid against reliever Corey Hamman in the bottom of the sixth when Jason Delaney singled up the middle

Hamman picked up his first save in his first appearance as a SeaWolf

Bierd and Hamman combined to face one-hitter over the minimum in the game

In the two games on Saturday night, the ‘Wolves limited the Curve to just one run on three hits

Erie improved to 7-3 against the Curve on the season and they have won the current series with the finale coming on Sunday night

The ‘Wolves are now a season-high 19 games over .500 and are in sole possession of first place in the Southern Division
With Akron falling on Saturday night to Reading, the ‘Wolves are 1.5 games ahead of the second place Aeros and have their largest lead of the season at the top of the standings

The SeaWolves and Curve wrap up their four game series on Sunday night at Blair County Ballpark
RHP Eddie Bonine (12-5, 3.68 ERA) takes the mound for the 'Wolves against RHP Kip Bouknight (11-4, 3.72 ERA)

The Curve aren’t dead yet, but they looked like it Saturday night
A lifeless, punchless Altoona squad fell flat on the most important day of the season so far, nearly getting no-hit twice in a doubleheader loss to Erie

A packed crowd of 8,457 at Blair County Ballpark saw the Curve endure a rotten evening that included:-
------------Just one run and three hits in 14 innings
------------Getting no-hit into the sixth inning of both games, and
------------Seeing their playoff hopes slashed to barely more than minuscule

‘‘That’s a tough night’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said
‘‘That’s not a fun night’’

Erie won, 2-1 and 3-0, to pass Akron for first place in the Southern Division
The Curve now trail the SeaWolves by 7-1/2 games and are six behind the Aeros for the wild card playoff berth
Altoona has only 18 games left and little chance to catch Akron because the teams don’t meet again

The Curve’s best opportunity to reach the playoffs was to make up a lot of ground in the 10 head-to-head meetings with Erie, but the SeaWolves have dashed those hopes with three straight victories this weekend
If the Curve don’t win tonight’s series finale, they’ll be 8-1/2 behind Erie and would need an amazing finish to reach the postseason for the fifth consecutive year

‘‘This is the time of year where you really see what guys are made of’’ Leiper said
‘‘Obviously we knew this was a big series, and you’re going to check and see who really wants to play and who doesn’t
Some guys really stepped up tonight
It didn’t show on the field, but in the dugout you know what’s going on
There’s some guys here that really, really stepped up and really showed what kind of character they have’’

That’s all well and good, but unless it starts showing up on the field, the Curve soon will be finished in the playoff race
They did almost nothing Saturday to make one believe they can hang around much longer

A pitcher in his Double-A debut, Burke Badenhop, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning of game one for Erie
He retired the first two batters in the sixth before Adam Boeve ended the milestone bid with a homer to left
Brett Roneberg hit the next pitch for a single to right, then Badenhop retired the next four batters to finish off his gem

The right-hander, who was 10-6 with a 3.13 ERA at Single-A Lakeland, struck out three and walked two
‘‘Nobody said anything during the no-hit bid, except for some of the fans yelling’’ Badenhop said
‘‘I’ve never done anything like that and never expected to’’

Yoslan Herrera (6-7) pitched a complete game for the Curve but took the loss after giving up two runs on five hits
An RBI groundout by Matt Joyce in the first and sacrifice fly by Michael Hernandez in the fourth accounted for Erie’s runs

The SeaWolves jumped on Altoona quickly in the second game as Jeff Larish hit a three-run homer off Todd Redmond (1-1) in the first inning
If the Curve had any life left in them after the first game, it seemed to disappear following that blast

Erie’s Randor Bierd (3-1), a reliever making just his second start, baffled Altoona’s offense with five perfect innings
He didn’t get a chance to try for a perfect game because of a pitch count, throwing 53 in his outing
‘‘He hadn’t thrown over 44 pitches all year, and he gave us more than what we expected’’ SeaWolves manager Matt Walbeck said

The Curve at least avoided the embarrassment of a perfecto thrown against them as Jason Delaney opened the sixth inning with a single off Corey Hamman
That was the extent of Altoona’s offense, though, as Hamman didn’t allow another hit over the final two innings and earned his first save

The Curve hit few balls hard all night, showed little patience at the plate with only two walks in 14 innings and looked lifeless in getting swept

‘‘Sometimes it’s very hard to sense life when things are not going your way’’ Leiper said
‘‘I mean, you can’t really look like you hustle when you’re hitting routine groundballs
You can be playing hard and you can be doing as hard as you can, but sometimes in baseball it doesn’t really show up’’

The Curve badly need something to show up Sunday night to at least prove to themselves they’ve still got a chance

‘‘Right now, you can put all the statistics aside’’ Leiper said
‘‘You’re going to see the heart of the player and the character of the player
Right now things are tough, but we’re definitely still in this thing
We could still go on our run
I think we’re a talented enough ballclub to do this, no question about it
Sunday I think you’re going to see the true character of our players’’