Wietgrefe, Bullpen Dominate in One-Hit Shutout Win

Sunday marked the first time since 2005 that Curve pitchers allowed one hit and no walks.

By Altoona Curve

3:48 PM EDT

MANCHESTER, NH – Wrapping up their two-week road trip to Hartford and New Hampshire, Curve pitchers Connor Wietgrefe, Alessandro Ercolani and Derek Diamond combined for a one-hit shutout of the Fisher Cats in a 4-0 win. Lefty Connor Wietgrefe retired 13 straight hitters to start the game before New Hampshire’s

MANCHESTER, NH – Wrapping up their two-week road trip to Hartford and New Hampshire, Curve pitchers Connor Wietgrefe, Alessandro Ercolani and Derek Diamond combined for a one-hit shutout of the Fisher Cats in a 4-0 win.

Lefty Connor Wietgrefe retired 13 straight hitters to start the game before New Hampshire’s Jay Harry dropped a double into left-center just out of the reach of a diving PJ Hilson. Wietgrefe retired the next two hitters quickly and finished his second five inning outing of the week with six strikeouts on just 63 pitches. Wietgrefe has held his opponent to two runs or fewer eight of his 13 outings this season.

Alessandro Ercolani followed with two dominant innings of relief on just 20 pitches to bridge the gap to Derek Diamond finished the victory by retiring all six hitters he faced with a pair of strikeouts. Curve pitchers combined to set down the final 14 hitters in a row after the 5^th inning double. It was the first combined 1-hitter thrown by Altoona since August 1, 2023 at PNG Field against Richmond (Beau Sulser, Justin Meis and Tahnaj Thomas).

The Curve jumped on New Hampshire starter Gage Stanifer in the top of the first inning. Duce Gourson walked to lead off the game and then trotted home when Titus Dumitru smashed a two-run homer to center; his ninth homer of the year.

Omar Alfonzo added a solo shot of New Hampshire’s starter in the fourth inning to make it a 3-0 game. The Curve have hit 58 homers in 57 games and swatted 13 during the 12-game road trip to Hartford and New Hampshire.

The Curve added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Derek Berg came across to score on a groundout. Berg finished the day with two hits for the seventh time in 10 games on the road trip.

Altoona returns to Peoples Natural Gas Field on Tuesday to begin a six-game series with the Chesapeake Baysox at 6:30 p.m. Altoona’s starter is to be announced, while the Baysox will start LHP Joseph Dzierwa.

For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.