Over the past two seasons, a few things have been constant about the match-ups between the Tyrone Legion and Hoss’s. The games are often very close, they usually involve rain, and Tyler Gillmen tends to make a large impact on the final score.
Gillmen picked up his second win on the mound over Hoss’s in as many years and led off the sixth inning with a homerun to help the Tyrone Legion pick up a 7-3 victory.
“Tyler hadn’t pitched since late April, so I was a little bit worried about where he’d be control-wise, but before the game he told me that his arm was fresh, and he pitched really well today,” Tyrone Legion Manager Mike Boytim said.
Although Gillmen did walk four batters and hit another, he recovered by striking out five while lasting five innings and left the mound with Tyrone leading 4-3.
Hoss’s starter Brandon Marasco suffered from his own case of wildness. Tyler Golden, Gillmen and Shayne Tate drew walks in the first inning, and Brock Anders was hit by a pitch. Tate’s base on balls drove in Golden to give the Tyrone Legion a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
Marasco’s night ended shortly thereafter when he was struck in the helmet by a Gillmen curveball that left the Hoss’s hurler dazed and unable to return to the game.
Geoffrey Breon relieved Marasco and struck out the first two batters he faced before Justin Schopp singled, moved to second on a throwing error, and scored on Golden’s double. Jamie Levinson picked up his team-leading seventh RBI moments later with a single to score Golden and make the score 3-0.
The Tyrone Legion added a fourth run in the third with the help of singles from Tate and Jesse Hertzler followed by the first of two RBI groundouts on the day by Ben Lynn.
Gillmen ran into his first trouble in the top of the fourth when he allowed a Tyler Baird single and walked three batters as Hoss’s cut Tyrone’s lead in half, 4-2.
Hoss’s picked up another run in the fifth, but Gillmen kept the tying run stranded at third by getting a groundout to end the inning.
Leading 5-3 in the sixth inning, Levinson relieved Gillmen and worked a quick 1-2-3 inning.
“Jamie has pitched against some really tough competition this season, and worst of all, it has been tough competition that has seen him pitch a lot,” Boytim said. “But today, he really picked us up when we needed two solid innings of relief. Hopefully he uses this as a confidence booster, because we’re going to need the Jamie that pitched today a lot this season.”
The only question following Gillmen’s blast to leadoff the bottom of the sixth inning was not if the ball would go over the fence, but if it would ever land at all. Tate scored his third run of the game on a wild pitch to close out the scoring later in the sixth inning.
“Against a gritty team like Hoss’s any kind of win you can get is a good one,” Boytim said. “However, we left 12 men on base in this game, and it seems to be turning into a trend. Thursday against Corporal Miller, we’re going to have to cash in those runners.”
The Tyrone Legion, now 3-2, travels to Altoona for the first time this season as they take on Corporal Miller at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mansion Park.
Sprankle’s Auto Outlet Notes: Tyler Hoover pulled a hamstring over the weekend and missed Monday’s game. His status for the next few games is unclear… Doug Morrow, filling in for Hoover, singled, walked and stole three bases… The Tyrone Legion stole seven bases in the game and have stolen 16 bases in 17 attempts this season… Tyrone is 3-0 at home and when Ben Lynn is in the starting lineup.
Tyrone Legion 7 Hoss’s 3
HOSS’S – Smith, cf, 4-0-2; Caputo, ss, 2-1-0; Baird, 2b, 4-1-1; Willis, 1b, 3-0-0; Bettwy, 3b, 2-0-0; Marasco, p, 1-0-0; Breon, pr-p, 1-0-0; Durasco, c, 2-0-0; Singer, lf, 3-0-0; Holsinger, rf, 1-0-0; Ecker, rf, 2-1-1. TOTALS 24-3-4.
TYRONE LEGION – Schopp, cf, 5-1-2; Golden, 2b-ss, 3-2-1; Gillmen, p-lf, 3-1-1; Levinson, ss-p, 4-0-1; Anders, c, 3-0-0; Tate, rf, 3-3-2; Hertzler, 3b, 4-0-2; Morrow, 1b, 3-0-1; Lynn, lf-2b, 3-0-0. TOTALS 31-7-10.
Hoss’s 000 210 0 3- 4-4
Tyrone Legion 121 012 X 7-10-1
HR: Gillmen
2B: Golden
RBI: Baird, Breon, Durasco, Lynn 2, Tate, Levinson, Gillmen, Golden.
SO: Breon 2, Gillmen 5, Levinson 1.
BB: Marasco 3, Breon 2, Gillmen 4.
WP: Gillmen LP: Marasco S: Levinson
