The Tyrone Golden Eagles have looked like champions at some points this year and at others looked like they were fighting to stay out of the basement. Wednesday they looked as good as they have all season at the plate in their final tune-up before the District Six playoffs. Using 13 hits, five walks and a strong pitching performance by Clint Wilson the Golden Eagles beat the Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 16-3.
Brice Mertiff got things started for Tyrone in the top of the first when he took a free pass and moved to second on Brinton Mingle\’s single. Wilson flew out to move Mertiff to third, and Mingle stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Derrick Soellner who came through with a single that plated both runners.
An error allowed Tyler Gillmen to reach and consecutive singles by Ben Gummo and Brandon Maceno each brought a runner home to give Tyrone a 4-0 advantage before they ever took the field.
Bishop Guilfoyle loaded the bases with the help of two Tyrone errors and a walk, but Wilson struck out Travis Gibbons and Shawn Sipes to give himself a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, but a balk allowed leadoff hitter Tom Seasoltz to trot home and put the Marauders on the scoreboard before Nick Perehenc flew out to end the inning.
The second inning turned out to be much like the first. Mertiff walked again, stole second and scored on a Mingle double. With one out, Soellner walked to put runners at the corners and Gillmen brought home Mingle with a single. Gummo capped the four-run inning with a double that brought home both Gillmen and courtesy runner Josh Clark.
After Wilson retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning in order, Tyrone miscues led to another Marauder run. Steve St. John reached on an error, moved to second on a pass ball and scored on a Seasoltz single. Wilson fielded a Scott Zimmerman bunt and threw him out to end the inning with Tyrone leading 8-2.
Both teams went quietly in the third inning, but Tyrone struck for two more runs in the fourth.
Soellner reached on an error and Gillmen moved courtesy runner Clark to second with a single before Gummo flew out to right field. Clark tug up on the play and forced a throw to third which got away and brought Clark home and Gillmen to third. Maceno then pulled off an excellent suicide squeeze that scored Gillmen to make the score 10-2.
Bishop Guilfoyle scored their final run in the bottom of the inning with the help of another Tyrone error, but the Golden Eagles put the game out of reach in the next inning.
Jamie Levinson led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Mertiff\’s second single of the day. Mingle hit a double to put runners at second and third before Wilson brought home Mertiff with a sacrifice fly. Soellner reached on an error and Gillmen scored Mingle with a base hit. One batter later, Gummo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and pinch hitter Josh Clark emptied them with a three-run double to make the score 16-3.
Wilson finished things off for Tyrone by striking out pinch hitter Nate Williams to give Tyrone the five-inning victory via the 10-run rule.
“Clint fine tuned himself for the first round of the playoffs out on the mound today, and did well throwing strikes,” Tyrone Golden Eagle head coach Tommy Coleman said.
Although the five errors committed by Tyrone are a cause for concern, the way the bats came around was very encouraging to manager Tommy Coleman.
“We were more relaxed and had fun out there. The bats came through and we had good timing for our big hits, and hopefully we can duplicate our hitting performance in the playoffs,\” Coleman said.
Tyrone will begin their playoff season next Thursday against an opponent to be determined.
Tyrone Golden Eagles 16 Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 3
TYRONE – Mertiff, ss, 2-3-2; Mingle, rf, 4-3-3; Wilson, p, 3-0-0; Soellner, c, 3-1-1; Gillmen, 3b, 4-4-3; Gummo, 2b, 3-1-2; Maceno, cf, 1-0-1; Clark, cr-cf, 1-3-1; Stotler, dh, 2-0-0; Graham, dh, 1-0-0;
Golden, 1b, 1-0-0; Myers, lf, 2-0-0; Levinson, lf, 1-1-0. TOTALS 28-16-13.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE – Seasoltz, ss, 2-1-1; Zimmerman, cf-p, 3-0-0; Garofoli, c, 1-0-0; Bookhamer, ph, 1-0-0; Gibbons, 1b, 2-0-0; Will, ph, 1-0-1; Hawey, pr, 0-0-0; Sipes, 3b, 2-0-0; McGraw, ph, 1-0-0; Perehenc, rf-cf, 2-0-0; N. Williams, ph, 1-0-0; A. Williams, p-2b, 2-1-1; Milliron, 2b, 1-0-0; Craig, rf, 0-0-0; St. John, lf, 2-1-0. TOTALS 21-3-3.
Tyrone Area 440 26 3-3-4
Bishop Guilfoyle 110 10 16-13-5
2B: Mingle 2, Gummo, Clark.
RBI: Clark 3, Gummo 3, Maceno 2, Gillmen 2, Soellner 2, Wilson 1, Mingle 1, Mertiff 1, Seasoltz 2.
SO: Wilson 5, A. Williams 2.
BB: Wilson 2, A. Williams 4, Zimmerman 1.
WP: Wilson LP: A. Williams
