It’s difficult to characterize a team that averaged nearly 10 hits and seven runs a game as fragile, but that’s just what the Tyrone baseball team was in 2004.
Call it immaturity, call it a lack of composure, the Eagles were a squad that was always one bad inning or one bad error from going in the tank.
Their final game of the season – an 11-4 loss to Central in the District 6-AA playoffs – was a prime example. Tyrone went ahead of the defending champions 3-1 in the third inning, but over the next three frames the Eagles committed four errors and surrendered eight runs – four unearned – leading to an 11-4 Dragon victory.
But despite Tyrone’s lack of focus in a game that meant their playoff life or death, what bothered manager Tom Coleman most was the club’s lack of emotion and concern. Like many of the games in which Tyrone fell behind, the Eagles lost their passion when the chips were down.
That makes the volume of Tyrone’s returning experience a potential blessing and curse. The Eagles return eight letter-winners and six starters, the lot of which accounted for 120 hits and 89 runs. The challenge will be for the group to bring its mental game up to par with its physical game, something Coleman thinks has happened already as spring training sets to break.
“We’re trying to get them to understand that in baseball, you’re going to have errors. You’re going to have winning streaks and losing streaks,” he said. “You have to adapt and overcome. We lost a lot of games last year when we could have overcome some of the adversity.”
In eight losses, the Eagles committed 30 errors, an average of almost four per game. Often, the end result was Tyrone being blown out before the game really began, as in 10-run losses to Mount Union and Altoona, where the Eagles booted the ball a total of nine times. Other times – like in a pair of one-run losses to Bishop Guilfoyle – the Eagles stayed in the game despite their fielding woes because of their ability to hit with any team on their schedule.
It was then that Tyrone was most in need of an emotional boost. But on a team dominated by underclassmen, it rarely came.
“There were definitely times last year when we would be down one or two runs with three innings left and it seemed like we had the life taken out of us,” Coleman said. “But with the group this season, there is a lot of chemistry there. They’re very dedicated and I think they realize the kind of potential they have.”
When Tyrone had it going, it was a sight to behold. In 19 games, the Golden Eagles tallied 182 hits, scored 141 runs and batted a collective .353. More than one-third of Tyrone’s hits went for extra bases as eight different players logged a slugging percentage of .500 or better. Six players had 20 or more hits. Eight had a batting average of .380 or higher.
Most of that talent is back, including two-year starting right fielder Brit Mingle, an absolute terror at the plate who last year emerged as Tyrone’s top offensive force. He led the team with a .437 batting average, 21 RBI, and two home runs. He was second on the squad with 21 runs and seven extra-base hits.
He’s joined by three other everyday starters from 2004 who hit above .380, including first baseman Clint Wilson (.431, 5 doubles), infielder Brice Mertiff (.388, .629 slugging), and catcher Derrick Soellner (.388. .615 slugging).
Also back are Ben Gummo and Brandon Maceno, a pair of three-year lettermen who, despite slow starts at the plate a year ago, came on strong down the stretch. Gummo finished hitting .283 with 17 runs and 12 RBI, while Maceno hit .196 with 13 runs.
Since the current senior class took over as the focal point for Coleman’s program as sophomores in 2003, it has always hit the ball and scored runs, and the fifth-year manager doesn’t expect that to change. What he would like to improve on is his team’s 54 errors from 2004, a full 20 more than its opponents.
He would also like to see more consistency from his starting rotation, a task made all the more challenging by the graduation of last year’s No. 1 starter Barry Gummo.
Barry Gummo went a team-best 5-3 and struck out 35, and his 3.57 ERA was tops among Tyrone pitchers who logged 10 or more innings. He was reliable and gritty, and he was always strong enough to start the big games, even on short rest.
If anyone is qualified to take over for Gummo where grit is concerned, it’s Maceno, who in 24-plus innings went 2-0 with a 4.14 ERA. He’s the kind of pitcher who often pitches deep into a count but battles and gets outs by allowing his fielders to work.
But while Maceno will be a strong No. 2 or closer, it’s Wilson who enters the season as the unquestionable No. 1 starter in Tyrone’s rotation. He pitched only nine innings in 2004 after recovering from off-season shoulder surgery that nearly ended his career, but in that time he posted a 1.40 ERA and fanned seven.
“Our concern is definitely our pitching,” said Coleman. “If it comes through, then this could be a very special year. It will be hard to replace the leadership and the innings of a Barry Gummo, but Clint is going to be our No. 1 guy, and if he stays healthy he can be pretty good. He’s throwing as hard now as I’ve ever seen him.”
Mertiff will also find himself in the pitching mix, as will sophomore Tyler Gillmen, who in two starts as a freshman went 1-1, including a five-hit 7-2 win over Bishop Guilfoyle in his first career start.
At the end of the day, be it from the mound, in the field or in the batter’s box, Coleman trusts that his team’s experience and maturity will make a difference in 2005.
“We have a lot of kids who have been playing for us since they were freshmen,” he said. “Each year, that experience helps more and more in those close games you have to win.”
