The Tyrone Golden Eagles had to feel pretty good about putting some punch back into their offense as they cleaned up the balls following batting practice before yesterday’s game at Glendale.
In the swirling winds on the hills behind Glendale High School, and with an invitingly shallow wall to all fields, Tyrone had just put on a hitting clinic, with most players clearing the fence at least once.
But even that could not have indicated just how impressive a display of power the Eagles were about to unleash.
Five different Tyrone players homered a total of seven times as part of 10 extra-base hits as the Eagles pounded the Vikings 18-3 in a game stopped in the fourth inning by the 15-run mercy rule.
Seniors Brice Mertiff and Clint Wilson each slammed two round-trippers, while Derrick Soellner, Tyler Gillmen and Brinton Mingle went deep once apiece as part of a 19-hit attack that produced a season-high in runs scored. Wilson, Soellner and Buddy Stotler also added doubles as the Eagles compiled an incredible 1.34 slugging percentage for the game.
“We hadn’t been hitting the ball very well, so before the game I told them to go out there and be aggressive swinging the bats, and we ended up with a lot of extra base hits,” said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman, whose team had gone seven innings over two games without scoring a run, including a 10-0 shutout to Hollidaysburg in the Dean Patterson Curve Classic Saturday.
Tyrone improved to 7-4 and snapped a two-game skid with MAC games against Penns Valley and Moshannon Valley on the horizon.
Mertiff continued his scourge on opposing pitchers that began eight days ago by going 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and three runs. He also belted two tape-measure shots in the first and third innings, including one to lead off the game that cleared the left-field fence by an estimated 100 feet.
Wilson also went 3-for-4, but the second of his ding-dongs was the most unlikely of homers for the 6-5 hefty-framed lefty.
With two away in the second inning and Tyrone already leading 5-0, Wilson sent a shot towering into the gap in deep right-center field. Outfielders Alan Collins and Derek Nash gave chase, but just as Nash reached to make the grab the players collided and went spinning to the turf. The ball rolled to the fence, and without even a play at the plate Wilson made it home for an inside-the-parker that brought Tyrone’s bench to its feet.
Almost lost in the offensive fireworks was the job done by pitcher Jamie Levinson, who won his first varsity start by going four innings and allowing only three runs on three hits in daunting conditions. Levinson fanned four, walked two, and flirted with a no-hitter in the bottom of the third when Tyrone nearly kicked in the mercy rule one inning early.
“At a field like this and in these conditions you have to work down with your fastball and your curveball, and Jamie did that,” said Coleman. “Overall, it was a very good outing for him.”
It was 2-0 after the first inning, but seven-run frames in the second and third put the game away. The onslaught started with two outs in the second when four players homered in a five-batter span, lifting Tyrone to a 9-0 lead. Mingle got it going with a two-run blast to center, Wilson and Soellner followed with solo numbers, and two batters later Gillmen cracked the first home run of his varsity career with a rocket to center that plated two.
That knocked out Viking starter Tyler Noel, who surrendered nine earned runs on eight hits.
In the third, Mertiff hit an opposite field shot that scored a pair, and Wilson, Soellner and Stotler doubled as the lead ballooned to 16-0.
Levinson came within one strike of closing out an abbreviated no-hitter in the bottom of the third, but Bobby Hewitt clubbed his 3-2 delivery over the fence in center making it 16-2.
DIAMOND NOTES: Soellner and Stotler each drove in three runs … every player in Tyrone’s lineup either scored or had a hit … Chris Tassi had a fourth inning homer for Glendale … Tyrone’s previous high of 17 runs came against Bellwood-Antis last week … the Eagles have scored 10 runs or more five times this season … Jesse Hertzler and Matt Morrissey each recorded their first varsity hits.
Tyrone 18 Glendale 3, 5 inn.
TYRONE – Mertiff, ss, 4-3-3; Mingle, rf, 3-2-2; Rodgers, rf, 0-1-0; Wilson, 1b, 4-3-3; Soellner, c, 4-1-2; Morrissey, cr-2b, 1-2-1; Gummo, 2b, 1-1-0; Gillmen, 3b, 3-2-1; Hertzler, 3b, 1-0-1; Stotler, dh, 4-1-2; Levinson, p, 0-0-0; Clark, cf, 4-1-2; Golden, lf, 2-1-1; Myers, lf, 1-0-1. TOTALS: 32-18-19.
GLENDALE – Collins, cf, 1-0-0; Strong, cf, 1-1-0; Hewitt, 1b, 2-1-1; Ball, ss, 2-0-1; Noel, p-2b, 2-0-0; Nash, rf, 1-0-0; Barnhart, c, 2-0-0; Tassi, 3b, 1-0-0; Shomo, 2b, 1-0-0; Sahm, p, 1-0-0. TOTALS: 15-3-3.
TYRONE 277 2XX X – 18-19-0
GLENDALE 002 1XX X – 3- 3-2
HR: Mertiff 2, Wilson 2, Mingle, Soellner, Gillmen, Tassi, Hewitt.
2B: Wilson, Soellner, Stotler.
RBI: Mertiff 4, Soellner 3, Stotler 3, Mingle 2, Wilson 2, Gillmen 2, Hertzler, Clark, Hewitt 2, Tassi.
SB: Gummo 2.
K: Levinson 4, Noel 1, Sahm 2.
BB: Levinson 2, Noel 2, Sahm 1.
WP: Levinson LP: Noel
