Considering the way the rest of the game went, it was fitting that Tyrone\u2019s 9-6 loss to West Branch yesterday at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex ended on a base running error.
\nBut while Tyler Gillmen\u2019s hasty move to advance to third base before Ben Gummo\u2019s grounder cleared the infield ended the game and a mildly promising Tyrone rally, it was far from the only mistake that led to the Eagles\u2019 ultimate downfall in their biggest MAC game of the season.
\nThere were others, each costly in its own way. Clint Wilson was chopped down in similar fashion in the third inning after Gillmen had reached on an infield single with two outs. Ben Gummo committed two errors at second base – although neither translated into runs – and left fielder Tyler Golden had a routine single go through his wickets, paving the way for West Branch\u2019s two-run seventh.
\nIt got worse. The game was all but decided in a pivotal second inning when the Warriors sent 13 batters to the plate against Gillmen, scoring seven runs on four hits.
\nIt was the sophomore\u2019s toughest outing in six varsity starts as he surrendered seven runs, all earned, and walked four in just 1 2\/3 innings.
\n\u201cHe\u2019ll bounce back next time,\u201d said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. \u201cHe just needs to work ahead of batters and throw strikes.
\nWith the loss, Tyrone falls to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in Division 3 of the MAC. West Branch improved to 12-4 and 4-4 in the MAC, and created a log-jam at the top of the divisional standings along with the Eagles and Mount Union.
\n\u201cIt was a tough game,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cIf we eliminate some of the mental mistakes and one bad inning, we have a lead or close to it. There are definitely some things we have to patch up before our next two games.\u201d
\nBut if Tyrone doesn\u2019t hold its destiny in its hands today as it did before the game yesterday, it needs look no further than the mirror for answers. Tyrone stranded six base runners, including three in the first two innings that advanced into scoring position, and never came through with the key hit that would start a rally or keep one going.
\nThat wasn\u2019t the case for West Branch in the second inning, when the Warriors rallied with two outs to plate all of their runs and take a commanding 7-1 lead. Keaton Gaines and Kevin Hubler led off the inning with back-to-back singles, but Gillmen battled back to fan the next two batters. However, before Gillmen could get out of the inning pitcher Ted Little drove an 0-1 delivery deep into center field beyond the reach of Josh Clark for a stand-up double that scored two runs.
\nGrady Luzier singled home Little to make it 3-1, Dylan Viehdorfer drew a bases loaded walk one batter later, and Coty Peters followed that with a base hit that plated one. Gillmen then walked the bases loaded once more, and issued his fourth free pass to Will Christensen to put the Warriors up 6-1.
\nThat ended Gillmen\u2019s day on the hill, and reliever Brandon Maceno came in to stop the damage. He walked home a run with the first batter he faced, but struck out Shawn Quick to retire the side. Maceno then went four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, before West Branch scored a pair of unearned runs in the seventh.
\nBut while Maceno was keeping the Warriors in check, Tyrone was doing little at the plate to take advantage. After scoring an unearned run in the second after Clark reached on a three-base error to make it 7-2, the Eagles went three innings with only one runner getting as far as second base.
\nBack-to-back doubles by Gillmen and Wilson in the sixth, followed by an RBI single by Gummo, gave Tyrone two runs, cutting the lead to 7-4, but West Branch answered in the top of the seventh with a pair of insurance runs. One came when a Little single to left got past Golden and all the way to the fence, allowing Quick to score from first.
\nTyrone tried to climb back into it in its last at-bat, with Wilson singling home Brit Mingle to make it 9-5, and Gummo legging out an infield single that scored Matt Morrissey. But on the play Luzier backed up third baseman Jim Moslak and kept the ball in the infield with a snag deep in the hole.
\nGillmen had advanced to second and kept going after the ball got past Moslak, and was cut down at third on a perfect throw by Luzier to end the game.
\n\u201cWe made a lot of base running errors and fielding errors that they capitalized on,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cI thought we actually hit well enough to win.\u201d
\nDIAMOND NOTES: The seven runs the Warriors hung on Tyrone in the second were the most runs scored against the Eagles by a team in one inning this season \u2026 Little went the distance to record the win for West Branch, striking out six \u2026 Wilson\u2019s double was his team-leading eleventh extra-base hit \u2026 Gillmen\u2019s double gave him five extra base hits in the last six games \u2026 Tyrone hosts Bellwood-Antis on Monday.
\n West Branch 9 Tyrone 6
\nWEST BRANCH \u2013 Little, p, 3-2-3; Moslak, 3b, 3-1-1; Luzier, ss, 4-1-1; Viehdorfer, c, 3-0-0; Demchak, cr, 0-1-0; Peters, cf, 4-1-1; Gaines, lf, 0-0-0; Shue, dh, 3-1-1; Hubler, 1b, 3-1-1; Christensen, rf, 3-0-0; Quick, 2b, 4-1-1. TOTALS: 30-9-9.
\nTYRONE \u2013 Mertiff, ss, 4-0-1; Mingle, rf, 4-1-1; Soellner, c, 4-0-1; Myers, cr, 0-1-0; Wilson, 1b, 3-1-2; Morrissey, cr, 0-1-0; Gillmen, p-2b, 4-0-2; Gummo, 2b, 4-0-2; Golden, 3b-lf, 0-0-0; Stotler, dh, 3-0-0; Maceno, lf-p, 3-0-1; Clark, cf, 3-1-0. TOTALS: 32-6-10.
\nWEST BRANCH 070 000 2 \u2013 9-8-4
\nTYRONE 110 002 2 \u2013 6-10-3
\n2B: Wilson, Gillmen, Little
\nRBI: Little 2, Luzier 2, Viehdorfer, Peters, Hubler, Christensen, Wilson, Gillmen, Gummo 2
\nSO: Little 6, Maceno 6, Gillmen 4
\nBB: Little 1, Gillmen 4, Maceno 4
\nWP: Little LP: Gillmen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Considering the way the rest of the game went, it was fitting that Tyrone\u2019s 9-6 loss to West Branch yesterday at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex ended on a base running error. But while Tyler Gillmen\u2019s hasty move to advance to third base before Ben Gummo\u2019s grounder cleared the infield ended the game and […]<\/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-42991","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\/42991","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=42991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}