The Tyrone Legion baseball team had not seen action for 10 days before their visit to Juniata to play McMullen\’s Furniture and it showed. Mental and physical errors, along with another poor batting performance led to an 11-6 loss for the Legion.
It didn\’t take long for McMullen\’s Furniture to take an early lead. After Tyrone went in order in the top of the first, Jimmy Moschella, Mike Weyandt and Jake Settle hit one out singles off Tyrone hurler Clint Wilson. Settle\’s single scored both Moschella and Weyandt. Courtesy runner Josh Briggs stole second, and scored when he took off for third and the throw ended up in left field. McMullen\’s Furniture got two more base runners on walks, but Wilson got out of the jam by striking out Tim Eck.
Tyrone showed their first signs of offensive life in the second when Jeremy Myers doubled to score Tyler Rickards who had reached on an error.
However, the momentum for Tyrone was short lived, as McMullen\’s Furniture tacked on two unearned runs in their half of the second with a hit by pitch, error, and another two run single by Settle.
“The long layoff hurt us, and it probably led to a lot of the mistakes we made out there today,” said Tyrone Legion head coach John Gummo.
Rickards helped Tyrone inch closer to McMullen’s in the fourth inning with a two out triple. He scored when a Jason Wilson grounder was misplayed by Eck at shortstop.
With Clint Wilson shutting down McMullen\’s Furniture, Tyrone cut the lead to 5-3 in the sixth inning. Ben Gummo drew a walk, stole second and moved to third on the wild throw. Then, after an out, Derrick Soellner drew a walk. With two down, Soellner took off for second, and beat the throw. Meanwhile, Gummo was trotting home to steal a run.
Things fell apart for the Legion in the bottom of the sixth as McMullen\’s Furniture used six hits, a walk, and an error to score six runs and take an 11-3 lead. In the inning, Settle had his fourth hit of the game and third two run single, giving him six RBIs on the day. The inning ended when Mike Sprouse tried to score on a double steal and was tug out by Soellner. Sprouse was ejected for pulling Soellner down after crashing into him.
The play at home put some fire into Tyrone, and the Legion got more hits in the bottom of the seventh than they had in the previous six innings combined.
Myers led off with a walk, but McMullen\’s Furniture pitcher Dan Conrad got Ben Lynn to line out. Tyler Hoover ripped a grounder to third, but was thrown out at first. Myers took off for third on the play, and when the throw went into the outfield, he scored. Barry Gummo followed with a double and moved to third on an infield single by Ben Gummo. Clint Wilson kept the rally going with a two run double, and Soellner walked before Conrad got a strike out to end the game.
“Clint pitched a great game. He almost didn\’t have any earned runs, and he looks better every time out,” said Gummo.
Tyrone played without Brandon Maceno who has gotten the majority of playing time at second base this season.
“Once we get everyone here at the same time, we\’ll get momentum. It\’s hard to get something going when you don\’t have the full team,” said Gummo.
Tyrone Legion\’s next action will come Tuesday night at Tyrone’s Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex against Locker Room at 6:00 PM.
Legion Notes: Barry Gummo threw three batters out at home plate, two from center field and one playing as a left-handed shortstop after his cousin Ben Gummo went into pitch… Tyrone\’s team batting average dropped to .252…Tyrone Legion saw its record evened at 4-4….Despite tempers flaring at the end of the game no Tyrone players or coaches were ejected.
Tyrone Legion 6 McMullen\’s Furniture 11
TYRONE LEGION – Ba Gummo, cf-ss, 4-1-1; Be. Gummo, ss-p, 2-2-1; Morrissey, ss, 0-0-0; C. Wilson, p-1b, 4-0-1; Soellner, c, 2-0-0; Rickards, 3b, 4-2-1; J. Wilson, lf, 3-0-0; Myers, rf-cf, 2-1-1; Lynn, 2b, 3-0-0; Hoover, 1b-rf, 3-0-0. TOTALS 27-6-5.
MCMULLEN\’S FURNITURE – Conrad, p, 5-2-2; Moschella, cf, 3-2-1; Weyandt, 3b, 3-2-1; Settle, c, 4-1-4; Briggs, cr-pr, 0-2-0; Stotler, dh, 3-0-1; Epple, 2b, 0-0-0; Haulman, 1b, 4-0-1; Ma. Sprouse, rf, 3-1-1; Eck, ss, 3-1-1; Miller, ph, 1-0-0; Mi. Sprouse, lf, 2-0-0; Craig, ph, 1-0-0; Gallardy, lf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 32-11-12.
Tyrone Legion 010 101 3 6-5-6.
McMullen\’s Furniture 320 006 X 11-12-4.
3B: Rickards.
2B: Myers, Ba. Gummo, C. Wilson, Ma. Sprouse.
RBI: C. Wilson 2, Myers 1, Settle 6, Ma. Sprouse 2, Conrad 1, Eck 1.
SO: C. Wilson 9, Conrad 6.
BB: C. Wilson 3, Be. Gummo 1, Conrad 5.
WP: Conrad LP: C. Wilson.
