Heading into their first full weekend of the George B. Kelley Federation season the Tyrone Legion carried with them a two game losing streak. After a weekend of futility in the batter\’s box the Legion now have themselves a four game losing streak after opening the season with a 7-5 victory over Barkman Oil/Altoona First.
The Legion dropped games against Locker Room and Park Furniture both by nine runs.
Saturday things started off well for the Tyrone Legion as ace hurler Jamie Levinson escaped jams in the first two innings against the powerful Locker Room lineup that was fueled by the return of many players from the Hollidaysburg high school team that lost to State College in the district six finals earlier in the week.
The Tyrone Legion was able to manufacture a run in the top of the third to give Levinson a 1-0 lead.
Levinson was hit by a pitch, and Mike Romano bunted him to second. A wild pitch later, Tyler Gillmen drove in his team leading seventh RBI with a ground out to second base.
Brett Weibley helped Locker Room tie the game at one in the bottom of the third with his leadoff double. A ground out moved him to third before a wild pitch allowed him to score.
The next two innings Locker Room hurler Bruce Diehl retired the Tyrone Legion in order, but Levinson was unable to do the same to Locker Room.
Locker Room got to Levinson for four hits and a hit by pitch to score four runs in the fourth and got two singles that led to Levinson\’s exit in the fifth. Reliever Romano struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed four straight hits to allow Levinson\’s runners to score along with three of his own.
Trailing 10-1, the Tyrone Legion faced the possibility of succumbing to the 10-run mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth when Romano loaded the bases with two outs, but Nate Mills flew out to end the threat.
Diehl struck out pinch hitter Todd Boytim and Jared Rodgers for his 11th and 12th strikeouts of the game to close it out.
“We played well the first three innings, but then Jamie lost his command, and a good hitting team like Locker Room will make you pay for that,” Tyrone Legion Manager Mike Boytim said.
Sunday, a shorthanded Tyrone Legion team hosted Park Furniture and met with similar results.
Legion starter Tyler Gillmen lasted only one inning and left after feeling some pain in his hip.
During Gillmen\’s one inning, Park Furniture found some holes against the Tyrone Legion who had a few players playing out of position due to the absence of starters Derrick Soellner, Tyler Hoover, Jared Rodgers and Jeremy Myers.
Park Furniture managed five runs on six hits to hand starter Anthony Augustine a 5-0 lead before he even stepped on the mound.
Augustine thrived against the slumping Legion offense, allowing only walks to Gillmen, Levinson, David Rodland and Mike Kustenbauder before finally allowing the first hit to Levinson in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Meanwhile, Tyler Golden pitched solid relief for the Tyrone Legion, allowing only two earned runs and four runs overall in six innings, but the offense could not get the Legion back into the game.
Leading 9-0, Park Furniture had an opportunity to end the game in the top of the seventh with runners at second and third, but Robby Shaffer bunted into a double play that sent the game into the bottom of the inning.
The Tyrone Legion led off the final frame with singles from Matt Morrissey and Justin Schopp, after only having one hit in the previous six innings, but Garrett Miller relieved Augustine and struck out Kustenbauder and Rodland to leave Tyrone with only one out to go. Romano walked to load the bases, but Shaffer made the final of many excellent plays at third base to retire Golden on a ground ball to end the game.
“In our first three losses we faced pretty tough pitchers, but today I felt like we really should have been able to hit Augustine. Our offense is really struggling right now, but we\’re going to take some extra batting practice before the next game and hopefully we can break out of this slump,” Boytim said.
The Tyrone Legion will look to do so when they host first place McMullen\’s Furniture Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Legion Notes: After five games, Gillmen continues to be one of the few Legion hitters not struggling as he has hit for a .500 average….Levinson singled, walked and was hit by a pitch Sunday to raise his average to .300 and his on base percentage to .563 which is tied with Gillmen for the team lead….Golden dropped his ERA from 7.00 to 4.67 with his strong relief performance.
Locker Room 10 Tyrone Legion 1
TYRONE LEGION – Levinson, p-cf, 2-1-0; Romano, cf-p, 1-0-0; Rodland, ph, 1-0-0; Gillmen, lf, 3-0-1; Soellner, c, 2-0-0; Golden, ss, 3-0-2; Hertzler, 3b, 2-0-0; Oswalt, 3b, 1-0-0; Hoover, 1b, 2-0-1; Morrissey, 2b, 2-0-0; Boytim, ph, 1-0-0; Schopp, rf, 2-0-0; Rodgers, rf, 1-0-0. TOTALS 23-1-4.
LOCKER ROOM – Mills, c, 4-2-1; Weibley, 1b, 4-3-3; Harris, 2b, 2-1-1; Reese, cf, 2-0-2; Macionsky, lf, 4-0-0; Diehl, p, 3-0-2; Thompson, ss, 4-2-1; Albright, 3b, 3-1-1; Smith, rf, 2-1-1; Ford, rf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 28-10-12.
Tyrone Legion 001 000 0 1-4-1
Locker Room 001 450 X 10-12-1
2B: Weibley 2, Harris 1.
RBI: Gillmen 1, Weibley 3, Harris 3, Reese 2, Smith 1.
SO: Levinson 2, Romano 2, Diehl 12.
BB: Levinson 5 Romano 1.
WP: Diehl LP: Levinson
Park Furniture 9 Tyrone Legion 0
PARK FURNITURE – Burlingame, lf, 2-2-2; Brazile, ss, 2-1-2; Shaffer, 3b, 4-1-2; Miller, rf-p, 4-0-0; Bauer, c, 4-2-2; Shrift, 2b, 4-1-2; Augustine, p, 4-0-1; Seymore, rf, 0-0-0; Frederick, 1b, 4-2-2; High, cf, 4-0-0. TOTALS 32-9-13.
TYRONE LEGION – Romano, cf, 3-0-0; Golden, ss-p, 4-0-0; Gillmen, p-ss, 2-0-0; Levinson, c, 1-0-1; Hertzler, 3b, 2-0-0; Oswalt, 3b, 1-0-0; Morrissey, 2b, 3-0-1; Schopp, 1b, 3-0-1; Kustenbauder, lf-rf, 2-0-0; Rodland, rf-lf, 2-0-0. TOTALS 23-0-3.
Park Furniture 511 100 1 9-13-0
Tyrone Legion 000 000 0 0-3-4
2B: Frederick 2, Shrift 2, Shaffer 1.
RBI: Brazile 2, Shrift 2, Shaffer 1, Bauer 1, Augustine 1.
SO: Augustine 5, Miller 2, Golden 7.
BB: Augustine 4, Miller 1, Golden 2.
WP: Augustine LP: Gillmen
