On the one hand, Penns Valley\u2019s 12-2 win over Tyrone Thursday, in Spring Mills, was the result of a Ram lineup that hit the ball hard from spots 1 through 9 in the order \u2013 a group that produced 11 hits, a pair of doubles and 10 runs batted in only rounds at the plate.
\nBut on the other hand, according to Golden Eagle manager Tom Coleman, chances are pretty good the Rams would have never teed off on his staff like they did had Tyrone\u2019s pitchers done a better job of getting strike one and pitching from ahead in the count.
\nInstead, Eagle starter Tyler Gillmen, along with reliever Tyler Golden, labored to get ahead in the count, walked five batters and generally were left grooving fastballs that Penns Valley\u2019s hitters were more than happy to drive like it was batting practice.
\nAs a result, Tyrone found itself on the short end of a 5-inning, 10-run-rule loss, its third straight suspended game to start the season. But while the first two ended with no harm done \u2013 a 14-14 tie with Southern Huntingdon called for darkness and a 5-0 lead over Bishop Guilfoyle halted for rain \u2013 this one cost Tyrone its first decision and a loss in MAC Section II play.
\n\u201cOur pitchers need to get ahead and throw strikes,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cWe can\u2019t expect them to throw 60 pitches in two innings of work for us to be successful.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s exactly what happened for Gillmen, who in his second start was tagged with the loss after throwing 58 pitches over two innings. He allowed six runs (5 earned) on five hits and walked three.
\nGolden came on in the second and allowed six more runs, though only three were earned after the Eagles made a pair of fielding errors behind him. He walked two and was tagged for four hits.
\n\u201cIf you fall behind in the count, teams are going to hit the ball against you,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cPenns Valley got ahead in the count today and they were able to get some good swings on the ball.\u201d
\nFew swing better than the Altiero brothers \u2013 Dennis and Scott \u2013 who combined to go 5-for-5 with a double, three RBI and three runs scored. Josh Kieffer was just as hot, going 2-for-2 with 3 runs scored and one RBI.
\nTyrone, meanwhile, could never get a clutch hit with runners in scoring position, stranding seven runners and scattering six hits. Golden went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Jamie Levinson was 2-for-3, but the rest of the Eagles\u2019 lineup was held to a combined 1-for-16.
\nThe Eagles inability to move runners in critical situations was a problem as early as the first inning. Levinson singled home Brit Mingle for a 1-0 lead, but Tyrone left the bases loaded, opening the door for Valley to tie it in the bottom of the frame.
\nGolden singled to plate DH Doug Morrow an inning later to make it 2-1, but Golden was the gunned down on a delayed steal to end the inning.
\nIn their next at-bat, the Rams sent nine hitters to the plate, scoring five times to build a 6-2 lead. That chased Gillmen from the hill in favor of Golden, who surrendered six more in the third. Two came home on a two-base error by left fielder Josh Clark, and another scored on a similar error by right fielder Justin Schopp two hitters later, making it 12-2.
\n\u201cWe just need to be more aware and make plays,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cWe need someone to step up and make a big play to get us out of innings like that.\u201d
\nGAME NOTES: Golden now has four hits in his last four at-bats \u2026 after reaching safely in his first six plate appearances, Schopp went 0-for-3 \u2026 Mingle has scored at least one run in every game … the Eagles travel to Philipsburg-Osceola today.
\nPENNS VALLEY 12, TYRONE 2 (5 innings)
\nTYRONE \u2013 Schopp, rf, 3-0-0; Golden, 2b-p-lf, 3-0-3; Mingle cf, 3-1-0; Gillmen, p-2b, 3-0-1; Stotler, 1b, 1-0-0; Levinson, ss, 3-0-2; Anders, c, 2-0-0; Hertzler, 3b, 0-0-0; Brooks, 3b, 0-0-0; Morrow, dh, 2-1-0; Clark, lf-p, 2-0-0. TOTALS: 22-2-6.
\nPENNS VALLEY \u2013 S. Altiero, cf, 2-2-2; Brubaker, rf, 1-1-1; Davis, rf, 1-0-0; Jo. Kieffer, c, 2-3-2; Bogus, c, 0-0-0; Frankenberger, 1b, 2-1-1; D. Altiero, 3b, 3-1-3; Musser, p, 0-0-0; Ja. Kieffer, dh, 3-0-1; Homan, ss, 1-2-0; Wingard, lf, 2-0-0; Wagner, lf, 1-0-1; Niederer, 2b, 2-2-0. TOTALS: 20-12-11.
\nTYRONE 110 00X X \u2013 2- 6- 3
\nPENNS VALLEY 156 0XX X \u2013 12-11-2
\n2B: Brubaker, D. Altiero
\nRBI: Brubaker 3, D. Altiero 2, Ja. Kieffer 2, Jo. Kieffer, Frankenberger, S. Altiero, Golden, Levinson
\nK: Musser 3, Gillmen 1, Clark 1
\nBB: Gillmen 3, Musser 2, Golden 2
\nWP: Musser LP: Gillmen
\nE: Gillmen, Clark, Schopp, Niederer, D. Altiero<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the one hand, Penns Valley\u2019s 12-2 win over Tyrone Thursday, in Spring Mills, was the result of a Ram lineup that hit the ball hard from spots 1 through 9 in the order \u2013 a group that produced 11 hits, a pair of doubles and 10 runs batted in only rounds at the plate. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}