Take away the 11 runs Tyrone hung on Bellwood-Antis in the third inning yesterday, and it would have still been a pretty good game for the Eagles.
Starting pitcher Ben Gummo was excellent, carrying a no-hitter into the fourth and allowing only three runs, a performance which was matched by his fielders, who for the first time this season played an error-free game.
But it’s hard to ignore those 11 markers that crossed the plate in the third, as 16 batters went to the dish in what was easily Tyrone’s most productive inning of the season. Aided by five B-A errors, the Eagles pushed home 10 straight hitters, belted three extra-base hits, and knocked starter Troy Brunner out of the game after 2 1/3 innings.
The Eagles went on to win their most lopsided victory of the season 17-3 at Bellwood-Antis High School, improving to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the MAC, while jacking their season total for extra-base hits to a scintillating 30.
Senior Clint Wilson was at the forefront of the onslaught, cranking out a two-run homer and a two-run double in two plate appearances in the third inning on his way to a five RBI day. The Eagles also received doubles from Gummo, Tyler Gillmen, Thad Graham and Derrick Soellner, lifting their season total for two-baggers to 24.
However, despite the Eagles’ acumen for deep drives to the gap and long flies to center, Blue Devil coach Steve Conlon put a different spin on the result, which was aided in no small part by his club’s six fielding errors through the first three innings, when Tyrone built a 14-0 lead.
“It’s pretty tough when we give them six outs,” Conlon said. “Hitting is always a strength of Tyrone teams, but when you commit as many errors as we did, it’s tough to overcome.”
There was a lot of sense in Conlon’s analysis. Before the Devils had even made it to the plate, Tyrone was already ahead three runs – three unearned runs – after an error by third baseman Brandon Beech with two outs put Wilson on first, setting the stage for Soellner’s 2 RBI double off the fence in left.
It was a precursor of things to come in the third, when B-A’s trouble handling the ball was matched only by Tyrone’s success in hitting it.
It started when Wilson jumped on a 1-1 fastball around the letters, driving it high over the mammoth net fencing above the left field fence, to make it 5-0. A single, a walk and an error then loaded the bases for Josh Clark, who drove a two RBI single back up the middle.
Clark advanced to third on the play when centerfielder Adam DeArmitt overran the ball, and scored one batter later when Tyler Golden singled to center. Gummo followed with a double, and Golden went home on a throwing error by shortstop Brian Hostler, making it 10-0.
Hostler and DeArmitt each committed one more error in the frame as the Eagles built an insurmountable lead.
“I was really impressed with how we hit the ball today,” said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. “The third inning was huge for us. Our kids are very competitive and no one wanted to be the one to make the out. (Bellwood-Antis) missed some that could easily have been important outs, but we took advantage.”
Tyrone added three more runs in the fourth on a Wilson sacrifice fly and a 2 RBI single by Soellner to go up 17-0 before the Blue Devils had even gotten a hit.
After issuing a walk on four pitches to Andy Brisbin in the first inning, Gummo was a tall order for B-A. Mixing a lively fastball with a biting slider, he struck out seven of the first 12 batters he faced on his way to a season-high eight Ks.
He held B-A hitless for 3 1/3 innings until Earnie Kelley pounced on a first-pitch fast ball and drilled it over the right field fence just in front of the scoreboard, giving the Devils their first run in the bottom of the fourth. Gummo fanned the next batter, but two batters later he was touched for his second round-tripper of the inning, this one a two-run shot to center by pinch-hitter Freddie Dorman.
DIAMOND NOTES: Brice Mertiff broke out of a 2-for-12 slump by going 2-for-5 with two runs. It was his first two-hit game since the season-opener March 31 … Tyrone’s starting 1 through 5 hitters went a combined 10-for-17 with 8 RBI and 10 runs … Mertiff made his first pitching appearance of the season, allowing just one hit in a non-save opportunity in the fifth … the teams combined to play 31 players … the Eagles play Bishop Guilfoyle at Blair County Ball Park in the Dean Patterson Curve Classic at 1 p.m. … Bellwood-Antis hosts Penns Valley Wednesday.
Tyrone 17 Bellwood-Antis 3
TYRONE – Mertiff, ss-p, 5-2-2; Gummo, p-2b, 3-3-3; Mingle, rf, 3-2-0; Levinson, rf-lf, 0-1-0; Wilson, 1b, 3-3-2; Soellner, c, 3-0-3; Graham, ph, 1-0-1; Gillmen, 3b, 3-1-1; Hertzler, 3b, 1-0-0; Myers, lf, 0-0-0; Stotler, dh, 2-1-1; Rodgers, rf, 1-0-0; Clark, cf, 4-1-1; Golden, 2b-ss, 2-1-1; Morrissey, cr-2b, 1-2-0. TOTALS: 32-17-15
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Kleinfelter, lf, 2-0-0; Koho, 1b, 1-0-0; Brisbin, 2b, 2-0-1; Beech, 3b, 2-0-0; Kubarek, ph, 1-0-0; DeArmitt, cf, 0-0-0; Alley, dh, 1-0-0; Kelley, ph, 1-1-1; Seidel, rf, 1-0-0; Gonzales, ph, 1-0-0; McClellan, 1b-lf, Hostler, ss, 1-0-0; Dorman, 3b, 1-1-1; Brunner, p, 1-0-0; Drost, p, 1-0-0; Winterstein, c, 2-0-0. TOTALS: 19-3-4
TYRONE 30(11) 30X X – 17-15-0.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS 000 30X X – 3- 4-6.
2B: Gummo, Wilson, Soellner, Gillmen.
HR: Wilson, Kelley, Dorman.
RBI: Wilson 5, Soellner 3, Graham 2, Clark 2, Gillmen, Golden, Dorman 2, Kelley.
K: Gummo 8, Brunner 2, Drost 3.
BB: Gummo 2, Brunner 1, Drost 2.
WP: Gummo LP: Brunner
