In only his first full year as a varsity pitcher, Tyrone ace Clint Wilson is going to have his good days and bad days.
\nHis last appearance nearly two weeks ago at West Branch was a bad day. The senior lefty was touched for 13 hits \u2013 four for extra bases \u2013 and 11 runs as he struggled to find command of his pitches in the Eagles\u2019 worst loss of the season.
\nBut the best thing about up-and-coming pitchers is that they can learn from their mistakes. Wilson did, and he showed it yesterday in the first round of the Dean Patterson Curve Classic against Bishop Guilfoyle at Blair County Ballpark.
\nWilson allowed just one run on three hits \u2013 two of which never made it past the infield dirt \u2013 while fanning seven as Tyrone cruised into the semifinals with a 6-1 victory. It was Wilson\u2019s second victory and third complete game in four starts, making it a very good day.
\nWilson dominated BG\u2019s lineup from top to bottom, allowing only three base runners to get as far as second base. The only blemish against him came in the second inning when Marauder pitcher and cleanup hitter Tom Gibbons connected with a 2-2 fastball and drove it over the wall in left center.
\nOnly five other Marauders reached base over the next five innings, as Wilson demonstrated a resilience forged in games like the one at West Branch.
\n\u201cHe came out today on a mission,\u201d said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. \u201cHe really only made one bad pitch and he dominated the game. He came up big for us when we really needed him to.\u201d
\nThe win evened Wilson\u2019s record at 2-2 and it took nearly an entire point off his ERA, which now stands at 3.25 after being inflated against the Warriors.
\nThe Eagles improved to 6-2 and will play Hollidaysburg, which edged defending Dean Patterson Curve Classic champ Huntingdon 5-4, on Saturday at 1 p.m. Before that, they will face Juniata Valley today on the road.
\nRebounding along with Wilson was senior infielder Brice Mertiff, who after a slow start at the plate this season registered his second straight two-hit game. His two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and provided all the runs the Eagles would need. He finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and boosted his batting average to .360 \u2013 nearly 50 points higher than where it began at the start of the week.
\nDerrick Soellner and Josh Clark also had two hits and the Eagles\u2019 defense went error-free for th\u00ade second consecutive game. But with Wilson in the groove he found himself in as the game wore on, there wasn\u2019t much opportunity for booting the ball \u2013 of Tyrone\u2019s 21 outs recorded, seven were by strikeout and 10 by fly out.
\nTyrone tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third when Soellner doubled on a 3-2 pitch with two outs to plate Mertiff.
\nThe Eagles added four more runs the very next inning and were never threatened again. Ben Gummo followed Mertiff\u2019s 2 RBI double with a single to right that scored Tyler Golden and later set the table for Mertiff to steal home with a big lead off first base that was enough to entice the left-handed Givens to throw over. Mertiff scooted home on the toss and Tyrone led 5-1.
\nClark then manufactured an insurance run in the sixth to give the Eagles a five-run cushion. After leading off with a single, he stole second and advanced to third when catcher Andy Garofoli\u2019s throw down went into the outfield. He later scored on a wild pitch.
\nClark\u2019s run in the sixth inning gave the Eagles three runs from the 7, 8 and 9 spots in the order, which drew the praise of Coleman.
\n\u201cThe bottom part of our lineup did a great job of setting the table for the top of the order,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cEverybody came out ready to play today, and we played all seven innings.\u201d
\nGibbons was strong in the loss, going six innings and striking out seven while walking only two. Only three of the six runs he surrendered were earned as the 3-5 Marauders committed three errors, including two throwing errors by the normally accurate Garofoli, one of which opened the floodgates for Tyrone\u2019s big fourth inning.
\nDiamond Notes: Tyrone has now hit 26 doubles this season \u2026 Wilson has retired the side in order in the first inning in all four of his starts this season \u2026 Soellner batted from the clean-up spot normally filled by Wilson, who moved to the five-hole. It was the first change in the top five of Tyrone\u2019s batting order this season.
\nTyrone 6 Bishop Guilfoyle 1
\n BISHOP GUILFOYLE \u2013 Zimmerman, cf, 3-0-0; Seasoltz, ss, 2-0-0; Garofoli, c, 2-0-0; Gibbons, p, 3-1-2; Sipes, 3b, 3-0-0; A. Williams, 2b, 2-0-0; Bookhamer, ph, 1-0-0; N. Williams, 1b, 2-0-0; Sheedy, pr, 0-0-0; Milliron, rf, 2-0-0; McGraw, ph, 1-0-0; Craig, lf, 2-0-1; Haney, ph, 1-0-0. TOTALS: 24-1-3.
\nTYRONE \u2013 Mertiff, ss, 4-2-2; Gummo, 2b, 3-0-1; Mingle, rf, 3-0-1; Soellner, c, 3-0-2; Morrissey, cr, 0-0-0; Wilson, p, 2-0-0; Levinson, cr, 0-0-0; Gillmen, 3b, 2-1-0; Myers, lf, 0-0-0; Stotler, dh, 3-1-0; Clark, cf, 3-1-2; Golden, 1b, 3-1-0. TOTALS: 26-6-8.
\nBISHOP GUILFOYLE 010 000 0 \u2013 1-3-3.
\nTYRONE 001 401 X \u2013 6-8-0.
\n2B: Mertiff, Soellner.
\nHR: Givens.
\nRBI: Mertiff 2, Gummo, Soellner, Givens.
\nSB: Mertiff, Mingle, Clark.
\nK: Wilson 7, Givens 7.
\nBB: Wilson 2, Givens 2.
\nWP: Wilson LP: Givens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In only his first full year as a varsity pitcher, Tyrone ace Clint Wilson is going to have his good days and bad days. His last appearance nearly two weeks ago at West Branch was a bad day. The senior lefty was touched for 13 hits \u2013 four for extra bases \u2013 and 11 runs […]<\/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-43051","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\/43051","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=43051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}