Owen lifts Curve over Fisher Cats with walk-off blast

CURVE, Pa. -- Hunter Owen's walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning powered the Altoona Curve to a 4-3 comeback win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Saturday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The Curve (24-28) went into the bottom of the ninth trailing, 3-2, when Logan Hill hit a leadoff single off Fisher Cats (24-29) reliever Vinny Nittoli (Loss, 0-1). The Curve's home run leader, Owen, was up next and ripped a line-drive over the left-field wall for his 12th long ball and the Curve's second walk-off win of the season.

Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: WALK. IT. OFF.Trailing 3-2, Hammerin' @Hunter_Owen11 smokes a walk-off, two-run homer! FINAL: Curve 4, New Hampshire 3 pic.twitter.com/I82PzN73ky
Owen's walkoff came after Angel German (Win, 2-0) struck out the side in order in the ninth to complete his fourth consecutive hitless, scoreless outing.
The win capped off an excellent pitcher's duel between Curve starter Sean Brady and Fisher Cats starter Hector Perez. Brady took a hard-luck no decision, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks in 6.1 innings. Hector Perez went six innings allowing two runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
All three of the Fisher Cats' runs came in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Santiago Espinal hit a sharp ground ball off Curve reliever Blake Cederlind that second baseman Alfredo Reyes dove for and knocked away from his body, resulting in a two-run single for Espinal. However, the runners kept going and Reyes threw home, wide of catcher Jason Delay, allowing a third run to score to give New Hampshire a 3-2 lead. The first two runs were charged to Brady and the third was charged to Cederlind.
Hill and Owen each had three hits to combine for all six Curve hits on the night. Hill, who hit an RBI triple in the first, finished a home run shy of the cycle and collected his fourth three-hit game of the season. Owen now has five hits in the series and hit two singles to go along with the walk-off homer.
The Curve and Fisher Cats wrap up their three-game series on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Curve will hand the ball to left-hander Domingo Robles (0-0, 3.60), who will go up against Fisher Cats right-hander Patrick Murphy (3-5, 3.99).
Sunday's series fnale is another Richey's Dairy Kids Club game, free to all fans ages 3-12, presented by Richey's Dairy. It's also Atlantic Broadband Customer Appreciation Day. There will be a youth clinic before the game from 10 a.m. to noon with Curve players and coaches, presented by Central States Manufacturing. The clinic is FREE to all kids with a ticket to Sunday's game and the first 350 clinics attendees will receive a water bottle giveaway. The game is also highlighted by a guest appearance by Jet Propulsion. Gates will open to fans at 1 p.m.
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