The Tyrone baseball team may have surprised a sleeping giant last Thursday, when it dealt unbeaten Somerset a 15-3 defeat that was even more lopsided than the final score indicated.
But there was no sneaking up on Philipsburg-Osceola on Monday in a holiday road game in Philipsburg.
The Mounties’ relentless hitting attack knocked starter Tyler Gillmen out of the game by the middle of the second inning, producing seven batters with at least one hit in an 18-3 non-conference throttling of the Golden Eagles.
Designated hitter Ben Maurer led the Mountie onslaught, going 3-for-3 with a pair of homers, five RBI and four runs scored. He came to the plate twice in a 10-run second inning and homered two times off two different pitchers.
Three other P-O batters belted multiple hits, including centerfielder AJ Czap (2-for-3, two RBI), first baseman Matt McCamley (3-for-4, RBI), and catcher Matt Adams (3-for-3, two doubles, RBI).
That was plenty of offense behind starter J.D. Mason, who pitched all four innings, allowing just one earned run while fanning seven. By the time he allowed Tyrone’s first run in the top of the third – which came with two outs and on the heels of two consecutive fielding errors by second baseman Derick Weitash – the Mounties already led 15-0 and had the 15-run mercy rule squarely in their sights.
Still Tyrone (2-3) battled to put runs on the board, using a Brit Mingle RBI single and run-scoring doubles from Gillmen and Josh Clark to put three runs on the board in the second and third.
But the attack never compared to P-O’s offensive production. The Mounties turned their lineup over in both the second and third inning as Gillmen struggled with his location. He walked only three, but he allowed seven solid hits leading to 13 runs (nine earned) as he fell to 0-3 on the season. Gillmen couldn’t make it out of the second inning, and gave way to reliever Randy Hoover after just 1 1-3 innings of work.
Gillmen surrendered five runs in the first inning alone, although some bad breaks could have changed the game’s complexion early. He allowed just two hits in the frame, both seeing eye singles by Czap and Matt McCamley. A walk to Maurer followed by a walk to Adams made it 1-0 before second baseman Tyler Golden and Mingle committed their first errors of the season. By the time the inning was over, Czap had come to the plate twice and P-O led 5-0.
Things went from bad to worse for Gillmen in the second, after the first four batters netted four hits and four runs. McCamley singled hard to left, and then Maurer poked his first round-tripper of the inning, a shot over the fence in left field that made it 7-0. Adams then doubled and scored on a Matt Curtis single to make it 8-0.
Gillmen would face nine batters in the inning as the Mounties built a 12-0 lead before Hoover came on with one out. The results were similar, as he allowed a single to McCamley, followed by a Maurer homer, followed by an Adams double … P-O evened its record at 4-4.
GAME NOTES: P-O’s one through four hitters went 11-for-13 with 10 runs and nine RBI … Mingle was 2-for-2 … Golden’s four-game hitting streak came to an end.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 18 TYRONE 3
TYRONE – Schopp, rf, 3-1-1; Golden, 2b, 3-1-0; Mingle, cf, 2-0-2; Gillmen, p-3b, 2-0-1; Stotler, 1b, 2-0-0; Levinson, ss, 1-1-0; Anders, c, 2-0-0; Brooks, 3b, 0-0-0; Hoover, p, 2-0-0; Clark, lf, 2-0-1. TOTALS: 19-3-5.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA – Czap, cf, 3-2-2; McCamley, 1b, 4-3-3; Mason, p, 0-0-0; Maurer, dh, 3-4-3; Adams, c, 3-1-3; Mills, cr-ph, 1-2-0; Curtis, lf, 4-2-1; Beals, 3b, 1-1-0; Harris, 3b, 0-0-0; Marcinko, ss, 4-1-0; Supko, rf, 1-1-1; Weitash, 2b, 3-1-1. TOTALS: 28-18-14.
Tyrone 002 1 – 3- 5- 4
Philipsburg-Osceola 5(10)1 2 –18-14-3
2B: Gillmen, Clark, Adams 2.
HR: Maurer 2.
RBI: Mingle, Gillmen, Clark, Maurer 5, Czap 2, Curtis 2, McCamley, Adams, Harris, Weitash.
SB: Mingle, Levinson.
E: Golden, Mingle, Brooks, Stotler, Weitash 2, Harris.
K: Mason 7
BB: Gillmen 3, Mason 1
WP: Mason LP: Gillmen
