When Barry Gummo pitches, Tyrone Legion wins. So far during the 2004 George B. Kelley Federation season, it has been simple. Gummo handcuffed Martin Oil on two hits, both by Matt Plummer, striking out 10 Martin Oil hitters and walking only one to pick up his fourth straight victory at Bellwood, on Tuesday afternoon. With the 5-1 win over Martin Oil, Tyrone Legion improves their record to 4-2.
Gummo (4-0) struck out at least one batter in every inning and got two each in the first, third and sixth innings to completely overpower Martin Oil, which falls to 3-3 on the federation season.
“Barry pitched very well tonight. He stayed ahead in the count and threw strikes,” said Tyrone Legion manager John Gummo. “We have been trying to keep ahead in the count and Barry did a good job today.”
Barry also contributed on offense by belting a clutch two-out, two-run, second-inning double that scored teammates Jason Wilson and Ben Lynn. Wilson singled into center before stealing both second and third base and Lynn walked, sandwiched around Martin Oil starter Kyle Drost striking out Jeremy Myers and Jared Rogers.
Tyrone Legion got to Drost for a run in the first on a double by Ben Gummo, who stole third base and scored on a single by Derrick Soellner.
Tyrone Legion then put the finishing touches on the ballgame with two insurance tallies in the fifth.
“We haven’t had a lot of offense so far,” explained John Gummo. “We have had to win with pitching and defense. It is tough to put all three together at this level. In the future we may start hitting and not get the pitching or the defense. We do have a good deal of team speed. It has always been my style to be aggressive. We have been able to steal bases and that can make up for our lack of extra-base hits.”
Ben Gummo walked with one out and stole second base. Clint Wilson took advantage of the only error in the game by either team when he hustled out an infield hit. Wilson received a second opportunity after Martin Oil failed to catch his playable foul pop up. Derrick Soellner then drove a ball into left for a base hit that scored Gummo and Tyler Rickards followed with a sinking liner to right for a single to score Wilson. Jason Wilson drew a walk to keep the inning alive, but Drost got Jeremy Myers to line out to shortstop for the final out of the frame.
Gummo retired the first 12 Martin Oil batters, with the help of Soellner thowing out one attempted base stealer and Gummo catching another Martin Oil runner going too son.
“We looked at too many good pitches tonight,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “You can’t hit them if you are not going to swing the bat. We let the good ones go by and were swinging at Gummo’s curve ball. This is not taking anything away from Barry, he pitched a nice ballgame. But we just have to get the bats off our shoulders and swing.”
Matt Plummer led off the home half of the second inning with a seeing-eye single that took a big bounce and then skirted along the ground into center field. Gummo caught Plummer running a bit too soon and after an extensive rundown involving several Tyrone Legion players and five throws, Plummer finally ran out of steam and was tagged out.
In the third, Chris McDaniel drew Gummo’s only walk of the game to begin the inning, but was gunned down for the final out of the inning, Soellner to Ben Gummo covering second base on the attempted theft of second.
In the fifth, Plummer belted a shot to deep left that turned Jeremy Myers around and fell in for a double. Plummer moved up to third base on a wild pitch and scored when Drost grounded out to short.
“I thought Bellwood (Martin Oil) played well,” commented John Gummo. “We just had a few breaks go our way. The next time we play, maybe the breaks will go their way.”
Soellner and Plummer were the only players on either team to get two hits. Barry Gummo and Derrick Soellner each drove in a pair of RBI and Ben Gummo scored two runs.
Drost picked up the loss for Martin Oil, fanning five and walking five, while Dan Graham, who played three different positions, finished up on the mound for Martin Oil pitching two hitless innings, walking two and striking out two.
“Kyle Drost pitched another nice ballgame for us,” said Davis. “He went five strong innings and Danny Graham came in and cleaned it up. Matt Plummer had a couple hits, but beyond that we just didn’t swing the bats and you can’t win if you don’t swing the bat.”
Tyrone Legion is back in action tonight at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex, playing a makeup that was rescheduled from May 23, against McMullen Furniture, and then travels to Fairview for a game against Sheetz on Thursday. Both contests will begin at 6 p.m.
Martin Oil will play Sheetz at Bellwood on Friday at 6 p.m. and then play at Vets at 8 p.m. on Saturday against Corporal Miller.
Tyrone Legion 5 Martin Oil 1
TYRONE LEGION – Ba. Gummo, p, 4-0-1; Be, Gummo, ss, 3-2-1; C. Wilson, 1b, 3-1-1; Soellner, c, 3-0-2; Rickards, 3b, 4-0-1; J. Wilson, cf, 2-1-1; Myers, lf, 2-0-0; Lynn, 2b, 1-1-0; Morrissey, 2b, 1-0-0; Rogers, rf, 2-0-0; Gherrity, rf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 25-5-7.
MARTIN OIL – Beech, cf, 3-0-0, Brisbin, 2b, 3-0-0, Alley, ss-1b, 3-0-0; Plummer, 1b-3b, 3-1-2; Drost, p-1b, 2-0-0; Kenawell, rf, 2-0-0; McDaniel, lf, 1-0-0; Graham, c-ss-p, 2-0-0; Dougherty, 3b, 1-0-0; Albright, c, 1-0-0. TOTALS 21-1-2.
Tyrone Legion 120 020 0 5-7-0.
Martin Oil 000 010 0 1-2-1.
2B: Ba. Gummo 1, Be, Gummo 1, Plummer 1.
RBI: Ba. Gummo 2, Soellner 2, Rickards 1, Plummer 1.
SO: Ba. Gummo 10, Drost 5, Graham 2.
BB: Ba. Gummo 1, Drost 5, Graham 2.
WP: Ba. Gummo LP: Drost.
