Rainy days and Mondays always brought down Karen Carpenter, but for the Tyrone baseball team, it’s more like game days and Mondays.
After yesterday’s loss at home against Claysburg-Kimmel, the Eagles had played on two consecutive Mondays. Both performances were flat at best, and neither were close.
The Bulldogs rode the bat of diminutive center fielder Kyle Nale to a 10-3 victory which, combined with last week’s 15-run-rule loss to Philipsburg-Osceola, left the Eagles 0-2 on Mondays this season, and outscored by a margin of 28-6.
“Our record shows we haven’t been good on Mondays,” said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. “This is a competitive team and none of the guys like to lose, so hopefully we’ll be able to bounce back from this and play above-.500 baseball this week.”
Tyrone managed only seven hits and stranded nine base runners while striking out seven times. It was in stark contrast to Claysburg, whose total in extra-base hits alone matched Tyrone’s hitting output overall.
Nale was at the center of it all, going 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a home run and two RBI. Four other Bulldog batters also drove in two runs, including starting pitcher Kalib Fleck, who smacked a pair of doubles.
Tyler Golden was tagged with his second loss of the season in an uncharacteristic outing that lasted only four innings. He allowed seven earned runs on nine hits while walking three.
Golden had gone the distance in both of his previous two starts, and while in those he was often hit hard in spots, he always managed to regroup as the game went on. He had 25 runs of support in those starts, as well.
“He was just a little off today,” Coleman said. “Location, location, location. He wasn’t hitting his spots early. He gave up a couple for extra bases, walked a couple, and the next thing you know it’s 7-0.”
The loss evened Tyrone’s record at 4-4 with a game tomorrow against Juniata Valley at home before heading to the Altoona Curve Classic tournament Friday with a game against Bishop Guilfoyle.
Fleck was the winner, throwing five strong innings and allowing just one run, while fanning seven. He stranded two Tyrone base runners on three different occasions, including a first-and-third situation in the fifth after the Eagles had plated one run and were threatening more.
But despite the Eagles offensive struggles, the major problem for Tyrone was dealing with Claysburg’s one through four hitters, who combined to go 10-for-18 with eight runs and five extra-base hits.
It started in the first inning, when Nale doubled in his first at-bat, and later came around to score on a Fleck single. Nale then led off the third with a towering home run to dead center as part of a two-run inning that made it 3-0.
Nale singled home Shane Burkett in the fourth for a 5-0 lead, and was followed by a Ryan Brown RBI single sandwiched in between run scoring doubles from Fleck and Aaron Doroba.
Tyrone finally got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Brit Mingle hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Justin Schopp, who had reached on an error.
But Claysburg quickly responded in the fifth, rocking reliever Donnie Hunter for three more runs, two of which came around on a home run by first baseman Ronin Weyant that made it 10-1.
The Eagles threatened with a brief rally in the seventh, scoring a pair on a double to right-center by Jamie Levinson. But with the bases loaded, Hunter grounded to short to end the game.
“We could never get that key hit today, and their pitchers made some good pitches,” said Coleman.
GAME NOTES: Tyler Gillmen, who had hit safely in all of Tyrone’s previous seven games, went 0-for-4 … Golden went 3-for-4 … Levinson is 3-for-6 with a homer, a double and 5 RBI in his last two games.
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL 10 TYRONE 3
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL – Nale, cf, 5-3-5; Claar, 2b, 5-1-1; Fleck, p-rf, 5-1-3; Kittle, cr, 0-1-0; Knisley, dh, 3-2-1; Brown, rf, 0-0-0; Aungst, p, 1-0-0; Doroba, c, 4-0-2; Iachini, lf, 3-0-0; Weyant, 1b, 4-1-2; Burkett, 3b, 3-1-0; Claycomb, ss, 2-0-0. TOTALS: 35-10-14.
TYRONE – Schopp, rf, 4-2-1; Golden, p-1b, 4-1-3; Mingle, cf, 3-0-0; Gillmen, 2b, 4-0-0; Levinson, ss, 4-0-2; Brooks, 3b, 1-0-0; Hertzler, 3b, 0-0-0; Stotler, 1b, 1-0-0; Hunter, p, 2-0-0; Anders, c, 2-0-0; Morrow, ph, 1-0-0; Clark, lf, 3-0-1. TOTALS: 29-3-7.
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL 102 403 0 – 10-14-2
TYRONE 000 010 2 – 3-7-2
2B: Levinson, Nale 2, Fleck 2, Doroba
HR: Nale, Weyant
RBI: Nale 2, Fleck 2, Knisley 2, Doroba 2, Weyant 2, Levinson 2, Mingle
SB: Nale, Schopp, Golden, Brooks
E: Burkett, Claar, Golden 2
SO: Fleck 7, Golden 2, Hunter 2
BB: Golden 3, Fleck 3, Aungst 2, Hunter 1
WP: Fleck LP: Golden
