The Tyrone baseball team is quickly approaching a crossroads in its season.
The heart of what was supposed to be a powerful lineup has not produced like it was hoped it would. Key hits aren’t coming at the rate they did a year ago. Seven weeks into the season, several positions are still up for grabs.
And if that wasn’t enough, Tyrone’s one consistent strength through four games took a nosedive yesterday when the Eagles committed four errors on the road against Bellwood-Antis.
But all of those factors combined were only a small part of why Tyrone, led by a core seniors and 3-0 just a week ago, dropped its second consecutive game in a 9-4 loss to the Blue Devils.
The real reason can be summed up in two words: Brian Hostler.
The B-A senior was at the top of his game against the Golden Eagles, pitching 5 2-3 innings of two-hit ball while striking out 10. He walked eight and showed signs of fatigue late, but for most of the game he had Tyrone hitters as far off balance as they’ve been through the first month of the season.
Hostler managed to pitch himself out of bases-loaded jams twice early in the game, using key strikeouts in the second and third to retire the Golden Eagles without yielding a run. In all, Tyrone stranded 12 base runners, six of which were left on in scoring position.
Hostler was able to pitch with a lead all day, thanks to two-RBI games from Chad Coho and Cameron Irvin, and a three-run homer by Josh Kleinfelter in the fourth.
“We jumped on top today with five runs in the first inning, something we haven’t been able to do for awhile,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Steve Conlon. “The, we were able to get some decent pitching from Brian Hostler and Blaze Winterstein, although we need to work on not giving up walks and things. The defense played well and we were able to add a couple more and keep them down.”
Sophomore Johnny Shaffer took the loss in his first varsity start, working into the third inning. He surrendered 6 runs (2 earned) and walked four.
But most of Shaffer’s trouble came in the first inning, when two walks and two errors opened the doors on a 5-run inning for the Devils. With the score 1-0 after a Coho groundout plated Nate Grey, Blaze Winterstein lined one back at Shaffer, who knocked the ball down, but in the hurry to throw to first threw over the head of first baseman Tyler Golden, allowing two more runs to score.
After Justin Miller reached on an error by Jamie Levinson, Irvin sent a liner into the gap in right center for a standup double that scored two.
“It’s tough giving up five runs in the first innings, playing catch-up the whole game,” acknowledged Tyrone coach Tom Coleman. “You have to take a different approach to it..”
Tyrone got one back in the top of the third, when Shaffer singled to drive in Jamie Levinson, making it 5-1.
That was as close as the Golden Eagles would come because in the bottom of the fourth, Kleinfelter connected on a first-pitch fastball from reliever Randy Hoover and rocketed a towering three-run home run over the fence in dead center to make it 8-1.
“There were a couple opportunities that we had, that we just couldn’t get that key hit, we just didn’t capitalize. We had the bases loaded in the third inning with one out and Hostler struck out the next two hitters.
”We needed to take a better approach and put the ball in play and see what can happen.”
Tyrone cut the lead in half in the sixth, scoring three runs of Hostler without the aid of a hit. Donnie Hunter came home from third on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Golden, Jamie Levinson scored on a bases loaded walk and Hoover scored when he took home on a wild pitch.
B-A added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Coho, and Tyrone would never threaten again.
Part of the problem for Tyrone was the inability of the top of the order to set the table for the rest of the offense, with hitters 1 through 3 going 1-for-10 and producing only two runs. That left the first three spots in the Eagles’ order 2-for-19 with three runs in the last two games.
Bellwood-Antis 9 Tyrone 4
Tyrone – Golden, 1b-3b, 4-0-0; Levinson, ss, 3-2-1; Gillmen, lf, 3-0-0; Shaffer, p-1b, 1-0-1; Anders, c, 1-0-0; Schopp, cf, 2-0-0; Cunningham, cr-cf, 1-0-0; Hunter, rf, 2-1-0; Brooks, 3b, 2-0-0; Hoover, p, 2-1-0; Moore, 2b, 3-0-0. TOTALS 24-4-2.
Bellwood-Antis – Hostler, p-3b, 4-1-1; Gray, ss, 3-3-3; Kleinfelter, lf, 3-2-2; Ju. Manning, 2b, 3-1-0; Coho, 1b, 4-0-1; Winterstein, c-p, 3-0-0; Watters, cr, 0-1-0; Miller, rf, 2-1-0; Ja. Manning, cf, 0-0-0; Irvin, dh, 3-0-2; Mock, 3b, 3-0-1; Plummer, 3b-c, 0-0-0. TOTALS 28-9-10.
Tyrone 001 003 0 4- 2-3.
Bellwood-Antis 500 301 X 9-10-2.
2B: Irvin.
HR: Kleinfelter.
RBI: Golden, Shaffer, Anders, Kleinfelter 3, Coho 2, Irvin 2.
SO: Shaffer 1, Hoover 2, Hostler 10, Winterstein 1.
BB: Shaffer 4, Hostler 9, Winterstein 2.
WP: Hostler LP: Shaffer
