With former Tyrone resident Mike Weyandt on the mound for McMullen Furniture, Tyrone Legion trailed the Juniata-based club 8-2 going into their final at bat. Rusty from a week without a ball game, Tyrone Legion began to catch up to Weyandt in the seventh, but fell short in an 8-5 loss to McMullen.
Tyrone catcher Andy Garofoli opened the rally with a single to center. With one out, third baseman Tyler Rickards worked a walk with Garofoli advancing to second and third on wild pitches. Left fielder Jason Wilson’s single to left scored Garofoli with the first run of the frame. Centerfielder Barry Gummo beat out an infield hit and Rickards scored on an error on the play by McMullen first baseman Zach Haulman. Nick Friling, Tyrone Legion first baseman, singled to center to drive in Wilson to cut the deficit to 8-5 with runners on second and third and the potential tying run at the plate.
At that point however, Weyandt, who appeared to be tiring, took control of the situation getting Jeremy Myers and Ben Gummo on strikeouts to snuff out the rally and pick up the complete-game victory.
For much of the ballgame, Weyandt was in solid control, keeping Tyrone Legion off stride after their long layoff. Weyandt struck out 10 and walked five. Through the first six innings, Weyandt had allowed two runs on four hits, and three of the base hits were by Ben Gummo.
McMullen scored in bunches, totaling four runs in the second after Tyrone Legion has jumped out to a 1-0 lead, and four more in the sixth to set the stage for Tyrone Legion’s three-run seventh inning.
Chris Buchanon and Tom Forr each drove in two runs in the second for McMullen Furniture.
Then in the sixth, Mike Thrower delivered a two-run single, Weyandt singled in Thrower and Forr, who beat out an infield hit, scored on an error.
Tyrone Legion went ahead with a solo tally in the top of the second in the ballgame played at Juniata. Ben Gummo singled to open the inning, stole second, went to third on a foul popup by Garofoli and scored on the front end of a double steal.
In the fourth, Gummo singled, stole second and third and scored on an error.
“We have to hit better than we did tonight,” said Tyrone Legion coach John Harlow. “McMullen Furniture hit the ball. We need to hit with them and tonight we couldn’t match up. Anytime we play McMullen Furniture it’s always a tough game and with few exceptions a close contest.”
Brandon Maceno took the loss for Tyrone, pitching the entire game, giving up eight runs on a dozen hits with two strikeouts and four walks.
Forr and Haulman each had three hits to lead the McMullen attack. Thrower, Haulman and Buchanon had doubles and Thrower, Forr and Buchanon each drove in a pair of runs.
For Tyrone Legion, Ben Gummo had three singles, scored two runs and stole five bases.
“Brandon Maceno pitched a whale of a game tonight,” said coach Harlow. “He deserved a better fate. I was happy the way the kids battled back in the seventh inning. They could have mailed it in, but we started to come alive with half of our hits for the entire game in the seventh. The week layoff hurt, but we have a tough schedule this week. Hopefully this game will get us back on track.”
Tyrone Legion plays Altoona First tonight at Tyrone at 6 p.m. On Thursday Tyrone Legion plays undefeated Park Furniture at Tyrone at 6 p.m. before moving to Vets Field in Altoona to play ReMax. The suspended game with the score tied 4-4 in the eighth inning will be completed first, then the regular seven-inning game between Tyrone Legion and ReMax will be played.
On Saturday, Tyrone Legion will play two games. The first against Dick’s Pharmacy will be played at Geesey Park at 2 p.m. The second game will be against Sheetz at Vets Field at 5 p.m. Then on Sunday, Tyrone will play Park Furniture again at Vets in a 2 p.m. contest.
McMullen’s Furniture 8 Tyrone Legion 5
TYRONE LEGION – Ba. Gummo, cf, 4-0-1; Friling, 1b, 4-0-1; Mertiff, ss, 2-0-0; Myers, cr-rf, 1-0-0; Be. Gummo, 4-2-3; Maceno, p, 1-0-0; Garofoli, c, 3-1-1; Cushion, 2b, 3-0-0; Rickards, rf-3b, 1-1-1; Wilson, lf, 3-1-1. TOTALS 26-5-8.
MCMULLEN FURNITURE – Forr, cf, 4-1-3; Price, lf, 4-0-1; Thrower, ss, 3-1-2; Weyandt, p, 3-0-1; Varsho, cr, 0-1-0; Haulman, 1b, 4-1-3; Buchanon, rf, 3-1-1; Miller, 2b, 2-1-0; Ma. Sprouse, 3b, 2-1-0; Cole, c, 3-1-1. TOTALS 28-8-12.
Tyrone Legion 010 100 3 5-8-3.
McMullen Furniture 040 004 X 8-12-3.
2B: Haulman 1, Buchanon 1, Thrower 1.
RBI: Wilson 1, Friling 1.
SO: Maceno 2, Weyandt 10.
BB: Maceno 4, Weyandt 5.
WP: Weyandt LP: Maceno.
