In his first five at bats of the season, Justin Schopp struggled to put the bat on the ball. He had a good reason, because unlike most of his teammates, he didn\’t play any form of organized baseball earlier in the year.
Now, after eleven games, Schopp is batting third and becoming an offensive force that is carrying the Tyrone Legion. Tuesday, he added to his already impressive season with a four hit performance that included a home run and three runs batted in to lead the Tyrone Legion to a 12-8 victory over Park Furniture.
Schopp\’s home run came in the first inning to give the Tyrone Legion an early lead, but Park Furniture responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Legion starter Tyler Golden walked the first two batters before an infield single loaded the bases. A strike out later, Golden walked in a run. Two more runs came across when a potential double play was thrown away.
Neither team scored in the second inning, but the Tyrone Legion offense got started again in the third.
Jamie Levinson led off with a single and moved to third on a single by Golden. Schopp brought home Levinson with an infield single, and Jesse Hertzler came through with two outs to drive home Golden. With runners at the corners, Hertzler stole second and scored on a two-run single by Mike Romano to give the Legion a 5-3 lead.
Another Golden walk led to another run for Park Furniture in the bottom half of the inning, and after three complete innings, the Tyrone Legion led by one.
Unlike their previous game against Martin Oil, the Tyrone Legion added on to their lead.
Donnie Conrad reached on an error to begin the inning, and Levinson, Golden and Schopp singled to bring in Conrad and load the bases. Tyler Gillmen drew a walk to drive in a run, and then Derrick Soellner brought home two with a single.
Hertzler added his second RBI single of the game to cap off the five run inning.
Ronnie Shrift tripled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and Golden walked Jake High, who stole second and eventually scored after back-to-back ground outs.
“If Tyler could have found his control in this game, we probably would have gotten a blow out win. He walked 10, and five of those scored, but we still won the game. A sign of a good pitcher is that he keeps his team in the game even when he doesn\’t have his best stuff and Tyler did that today,” Tyrone Legion Manager Mike Boytim said.
With the score 10-6, both teams ran into a scoring drought in the fifth and sixth innings. Golden seemed to hit his stride in the sixth inning when he struck out the side.
The Tyrone Legion added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning when Conrad singled and went to second on an error right before Levinson reached on an error. Consecutive RBI singles by Golden and Schopp brought in Conrad and Levinson.
Golden began to tire in the seventh, giving up a single and a walk in front of a two run double. He recovered to strike out Chris Sweeney and get a ground out, but walked two more to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate.
In danger of blowing their second big lead in as many days, Golden reared back for one more batter and struck out Ken Brazile to end the game.
“Coming back the day after a heart breaking loss and taking care of business is the sign of a team that is ready to be a winning team. Our offense is really clicking right now, and hopefully Justin, Jamie and Tyler can keep it going for us at the top of the lineup,” Boytim said.
The Tyrone Legion returns to Geesey Park today to take on Dick\’s Pharmacy at 6 p.m.
Legion Notes: Tyler Golden has a six game hit streak and has had multiple hits in five of those six games….Schopp raised his batting average to a team high .481… Gillmen drove home his team leading 12th RBI….Jared Rodgers left in the fourth inning with an injury, but appeared to be fine after the game….. Brandon Oswalt and David Rodland filled in for Rodgers…. The Tyrone Legion was shut out by Park Furniture only six games ago, a testament to how far the offense has come in a short time.
Tyrone Legion 12 Park Furniture 8
TYRONE LEGION – Levinson, ss, 5-3-2; Golden, p, 5-2-3; Schopp, cf, 5-3-4; Gillmen, 3b, 3-1-0; Soellner, c, 4-0-1; Hertzler, 2b, 4-1-3; Romano, 1b, 4-0-2; Rodgers, rf, 3-0-0; Oswalt, rf, 1-0-0; Rodland, rf, 0-0-0; Conrad, lf, 4-2-1. TOTALS 38-12-16.
PARK FURNITURE – Brazile, 2b, 4-1-0; Burlingame, lf, 2-1-0; Gibbons, p, 4-2-3; Miller, rf, 2-2-0; Baller, c, 3-0-1; Sweeney, 3b, 3-0-0; Augustine, 1b, 4-0-0; Shrift, ss, 3-1-1; High, cf, 1-1-0. TOTALS 26-8-5.
Tyrone Legion 104 500 2 12-16-2
Park Furniture 301 200 2 8-5-5
HR: Schopp 1.
3B: Shrift 1.
2B: Baller 1.
RBI: Schopp 3, Golden 2, Soellner 2, Hertzler 2, Romano 2, Gillmen 1, Baller 3, Sweeney 2, Brazile 1, Burlingame 1.
SO: Golden 5, Gibbons 8.
BB: Golden 10, Gibbons 1.
WP: Golden LP: Gibbons
