In a sport where nine players on a team fill a role at any given time, you wouldn’t think it would be easy for individuals to impose their wills on an opponent as often happens in baseball.
But you see it often: think of Reggie Jackson’s 1977 October or Randy Johnson’s World Series in 2001.
So what was the impact of one individual on in the MAC Division III rematch between Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone yesterday at the Harry K. Sickler Sports complex, a reset of a game Tyrone won 17-3 in April?
It was substantial, to put it mildly. Back from a shoulder injury that kept him from pitching until the latter weeks of the Blue Devils’ season, senior Chris Alley did things B-A pitchers couldn’t do against Tyrone’s powerful lineup three weeks ago, not the least of which was get batters out. He fanned 12 Golden Eagle hitters in seven innings, walked only one and pitched six shutout frames to lead B-A to an 8-4 upset that eliminated Tyrone from contention in the MAC.
The Devils improved to 5-13 overall and 2-7 in the MAC, while Tyrone dipped to 10-6 and 5-4.
“We got better pitching this time around, but lately we’ve been playing better baseball,” said B-A manager Steve Conlon. “Chris had some shoulder trouble earlier this year and he was out about three weeks. The trainer worked on some mechanics with him, and he’s come back now and two games in a row pitched pretty well.”
So dominant was Alley through the first six innings, that Tyrone – a team averaging nine hits and 10 runs per game – managed to advance only two runners to second base and beyond. Part of it was poor decisions on the base paths, as three Eagles were picked off base, and part of it was Alley’s ability to work ahead of batters and keep Tyrone hitters off balance.
Tyrone had its leadoff hitter on board in the first, second, sixth and seventh innings, and only in the seventh did the Eagles bring him around to score. In the second inning, when a Tyler Gillmen double had runners on second and third with no outs, Alley forced an infield pop-up and struck out the last two batters to retire the side.
“Offensively, we got into a struggle putting the ball in play,” said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. “We had too many strikeouts today and we need to bat better in the situational phase of the game.”
But while the Eagles’ bats weren’t what they have been, the game was in essence decided over the first two innings, and the problem wasn’t Tyrone’s sticks, but the gloves.
Starting pitcher Ben Gummo was knocked out of the game in the second inning after surrendering seven runs in an inning-and-two-thirds, but only two of the runs were earned as three errors opened the floodgates to a pair of big innings for the Blue Devils.
B-A scored four in the first – none of which were earned – and three more in the second to lead 7-0 before Tyrone had even brought its cleanup hitter to the plate.
“It’s always big to come out and get a couple runs for a pitcher,” Conlon said. “We were able to come out and get a couple in the first, and then we worked well from there.”
Gummo struggled a bit with his control early in the first, walking the first two batters of the game and then allowing a Brandon Beech bunt single to load the bases, but he was poised to get out of the inning without any damage after striking out Alley and getting Josh Kleinfelter to pop to third.
That’s when the wheels started to fall off for Tyrone. Chad Coho lined a two-hopper to second that was mishandled by Matt Morrissey, who hurried to get the throw to first but threw in the dirt. The error plated Tyler McClellan and Andy Brisbin.
Freddie Dorman walked and Kyle Drost then drove in Beech with a single to right, and Justin Manning walked with the bases loaded to bring home another, making it 4-0.
After Andy Brisbin led off the second with a double deep to the right-center gap, two more Tyrone errors led to three more B-A runs. The first came with one out when first baseman Clint Wilson misplayed a ball hit by Alley, and the second came when left fielder Jeremy Myers let a Kleinfelter single get past him. Kleinfelter and Dorman each had RBI in the inning as B-A went ahead 7-0.
Brandon Maceno came in with two down and went the rest of the way, scattering two hits and allowing just one run over the last five-and-a-third. It was the second time in two games the senior was called on early to shut down an opponent that was rallying, and in those 10 and two-thirds innings he has allowed only three runs.
“He’s a competitor, through football and baseball,” said Coleman. “This is the second time in a row he’s come out and shut the other team down when they had a big lead. Hat’s off to him.”
Tyrone scored four in the bottom of the seventh – one on an RBI single by Morrissey and three on a Brice Mertiff three-run homer – but Alley whiffed three in the frame to seal the Devils’ win.
Mertiff finished 4-for-4 with three singles to go along with his third round-tripper.
Bellwood-Antis 8 Tyrone 4
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – McClellan, cf-rf, 4-1-0; Brisbin, 2b, 2-2-2; Beech, rf, 3-1-1; DeArmitt, cf, 1-0-0; Alley, p, 4-1-0; Kleinfelter, lf, 3-1-0; Coho, 1b, 4-1-1; Winterstein, c, 0-0-0; Dorman, dh, 1-1-0; Drost, ss, 3-0-2; Manning, 3b, 3-0-0. TOTALS: 28-8-4.
TYRONE – Mertiff, ss, 4-1-4; Mingle, rf, 4-0-1; Wilson, 1b, 3-0-0; Soellner, c, 2-0-0; Levinson, cr-cf, 1-0-0; Gillmen, 3b, 2-0-1; Stotler, ph, 1-1-1; Gummo, p-lf, 2-0-0; Graham, ph, 1-1-1; Maceno, cf-p, 2-0-1; Rodgers, ph, 1-0-0; Morrissey, 2b, 1-1-1; Golden, 2b, 2-0-0; Myers, lf, 0-0-0; Clark, cf, 2-0-0. TOTALS: 28-4-9.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS 430 010 0 – 8-4-0
TYRONE 000 000 4 – 4-9-3
2B: Gillmen, Brisbin.
HR: Mertiff.
RBI: Kleinfelter, Dorman, Drost, Manning, Mertiff 3, Morrissey.
SO: Alley 12, Gummo 3, Maceno 4.
BB: Alley 1, Gummo 5, Maceno 4.
WP: Alley LP: Gummo
