Considering the amount of time he spends in the weight room during the off-season, you would think Tyrone infielder Tyler Gillmen could carry a heavy load.
To carry the heart of a batting order? That’s a different story, but it’s exactly what the junior has done over the last week, culminating in a career game yesterday when the Eagles needed it most in a 10-8 come-from-behind victory over West Branch at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex.
Gillmen homered in the first, doubled home the game-winning run in Tyrone’s last at-bat, and drove in five runs as the Eagles delivered West Branch (6-2) its second loss of the season.
He finished the game 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs. In the last four games, Gillmen is hitting .666 (8-for-12) with two doubles, a triple, a home run, 6 runs and 10 RBI.
“He’s a competitor and he wants to win,” said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman, whose team evened its record at 3-3 as it rebounded from a demoralizing 18-3 defeat to Philipsburg-Osceola just 24 hours earlier. “He’s hitting in the four-hole for a reason and right now he’s swinging a really hot bat for us.”
That was why nobody was more suited for the position Gillmen found himself in when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tyrone trailed 8-6 with the bases loaded and two away after rallying for two runs.
Warrior starter Keatin Gaines, who had already fanned 10 batters, worked a full count before Gillmen delivered with a screaming double off the top of the fence in left-center field. Josh Clark, Brit Mingle and Tyler Golden all came around to score, lifting the Eagles to a 9-8 lead.
Gillmen scored from third later in the inning on a double steal with Greg Tyler.
“It all falls back on our offense and never giving up,” Coleman said of his team’s comeback victory. “Our offense really came through. The bottom of our order got on base and the top and the middle brought them in. This shows the kind of character and resilience we have.”
No one demonstrated resilience more than starter Tyler Golden, who withered the storm of a five-run third inning to record his second win of the season. From the fourth through the seventh, Golden surrendered only two runs and three hits. In all, he allowed seven hits and seven earned runs, striking out three and walking four.
“He’s the kind of pitcher who will stay on the mound until we have to drag him off,” Coleman said. “He started out slow but he gets stronger in the late innings. He trusted himself and he trusted in his offense to score some runs.”
Early on, it looked like Golden would get all the run support he needed. Following Gillmen’s two-run dinger in the first, Justin Schopp doubled home two more in the second to lift the Eagles to a 4-1 lead.
But the Warriors hit Golden hard in the fourth, using two singles, a Jesse Husted RBI double and an error on Gillmen at second to tie the game at 4-4. A sacrifice fly by Gaines and a run-scoring groundout by Jon Demchak made it 6-4, and Tyrone would manage only one hit over the next three innings.
West Branch added two insurance runs in the fourth and sixth, scoring first on a Husted groundout that plated Kyle Maguire, and again in the sixth on a Maguire solo shot to left-center.
But Tyrone came alive with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Third baseman Matt Brooks doubled and later scored on a Clark single, and courtesy runner Donnie Hunter scored when, with two outs, Golden struck out but made it safely to first on a wild pitch.
That made it 8-6 and set the stage for Gillmen’s clutch two-bagger.
GAME NOTES: Tyrone scored seven of its runs with two outs … the Eagles last two victories have come against teams with a combined 11-1 record … Tyrone has slammed 18 extra-base hits in the last four games … the Eagles host Bellwood-Antis on Thursday.
TYRONE 10 WEST BRANCH 8
WEST BRANCH – Hahn, lf, 3-1-2; Husted, cf, 4-1-1; Viehdorfer, c, 2-0-0; Meersand, cr, 0-1-0; Luzier, ss, 3-1-0; Shive, 2b-p, 3-0-1; Gaines, p, 1-0-0; Quick, 2b, 1-0-0; Dotts, rf, 1-0-1; Demchak, dh, 3-0-0; Norris, 1b, 4-0-0; Maguire, 3b, 2-3-2. TOTALS: 27-8-7.
TYRONE – Schopp, rf, 4-0-1; Golden, p, 4-2-0; Mingle, cf, 3-1-0; Gillmen, 2b, 4-2-3; Stotler, 1b, 3-0-0; Tyler, pr, 0-0-0; Levinson, ss, 4-0-0; Brooks, 3b, 2-1-1; Morrow, dh, 1-1-0; Anders, c, 0-0-0; Hunter, cr, 0-1-0; Clark, lf, 2-2-1. TOTALS: 27-10-6.
WEST BRANCH 015 101 0 – 8-7-3
TYRONE 220 006 X – 10-6-1
2B: Gillmen, Schopp, Brooks, Hahn, Husted
HR: Gillmen, Maguire
RBI: Gillmen 5, Schopp 2, Clark, Gaines 2, Husted, Luzier, Demchak, Maguire
SB: Gillmen, Tyler, Hahn 2
E: Gillmen, Viehdorfer, Gaines, Shive
K: Golden 3, Gaines 10, Shive 1
BB: Golden 4, Gaines 6
WP: Golden LP: Gaines
