A change in the batting order played a major role yesterday in Tyrone’s most productive day at the plate in two weeks.
\nBut it was a pep talk in the middle of the fifth inning that lit a fire under the Golden Eagles and set the stage for Tyrone, down at one point by five runs, to rally for a 9-6 victory on the road against Glendale.
\nThe win improved the Eagles’ record to 3-2 overall and 3-0 in the Blair County League with a showdown with perennial power Mount Union slated for today in Mount Union.
\n\u201cThe first four innings today we were flat and we weren’t playing the way we’re capable of playing,\u201d said Tyrone manager Tom Coleman. \u201cI pulled them aside and had a talk with them in the fifth inning. By then, we were a lot more selctive at the plate and we were able to start driving the ball.\u201d
\nThe Eagles did more than just drive the ball in the fifth inning \u2013 they nearly tore its cover off. Trailing 6-1, Tyrone exploded for five runs to tie the game, with catcher Derrick Soellner delivering the biggest blow \u2013 a three-run home run that brought the Eagles to within 6-5.
\nIt was Soellner’s second home run of the season and it capped a two-hit, 4-RBI game for the sophomore.
\n\u201cDerrick came through with the big hit for us in the fifth,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cThen the bottom of the order came through for us once again.\u201d
\nLater in the fifth, Barry Gummo, hitting in the eight-spot, doubled to bring home Max Soellner and tie the game at 6-6.
\nGummo finished the day 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored, and he came in from right field in the fifth inning to pitch three strong innings in relief of Tyler Mertiff. He didn’t allow a run, struck out three and walked none, in the process improving to 2-0 on the season.
\n\u201cNick Friling has earned our No. 1 spot in the rotation but two, three and four have been up for grabs,\u201d said Coleman. \u201cIt seems like Barry has taken that No. 2 spot. He just comes in and throws strikes and he hasn’t allowed an earned run yet this season.\u201d
\nTyrone went ahead 7-6 in the sixth inning when sophomore Brice Mertiff singled home Tyler Mertiff. Brice Mertiff ended the day 5-for-5 with three RBI a double and a run scored, snapping out of a 2-for-10 slump over the last three games.
\nThe Eagles tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh when Max Soellner and Gummo scored on a throwing error.
\nThe Eagles flip-flopped several spots in their batting order after their 1 through 5 hitters managed just seven hits in the last three games.
\nThe moves worked, and it left Coleman looking forward to today’s game with Mount Union and the next several weeks of play.
\n\u201cIt’s been a good week so far,\u201d said Coleman, whose team will play three games this week followed by a three-game homestand next week. \u201cIt would be optimal for us to go 3-0 but for the BCL hunt we absolutely had to be at least 2-1. Everybody knows the reputation of the Mount Union program, but we’re going down there looking to improve to 3-0 this week to put ourselves in good position for our homestand.\u201d
\nGame Notes: Four Tyrone hitters finished with two hits: Friling, Brice Mertiff, Derrick Soellner, and Max Soellner … Tyrone has now won three in a row with a darkness-suspended tie game against Claysburg-Kimmel still pending … Tyrone had not had an extra-base hit since April 2 against Williamsburg … Starting tomorrow, the Eagles will play seven games over the next two weeks.
\nTYRONE 9, GLENDALE 6
\nTYRONE – T. Mertiff, p-lf, 2-2-0; Friling, lf, 4-2-2; B. Mertiff, ss, 5-1-2; D. Soellner, c, 5-1-2; Be. Gummo 3b, 3-0-1; Maceno, 2b, 3-0-0; M. Soellner, cf, 4-2-2; Ba. Gummo, rf-p, 3-1-1; Cushion, 1b, 0-0-0; C. Wilson, dh, 3-0-0; Rickards, ph, 0-0-0. TOTALS: 32-9-10
\nGLENDALE – Ball, ss, 3-1-2; Hewit, c, 3-1-0; Parks, lf, 4-2-1; Budzinski, 1b, 4-0-1; Laing, 2b, 2-0-0; Hallos, cf, 3-1-0; Strang, rf, 3-0-0; Slam, 3b, 0-0-0; Noel, dh, 3-1-2; People, p, 3-0-1. TOTALS: 28-6-7
\nTYRONE 100 051 2 – 9-10
\nGLENDALE 301 200 0 – 6-7
\nHR: D. Soellner
\n2B: B. Mertiff, Ba. Gummo
\nRBI: D. Soellner (4), B. Mertiff (2), Ba. Gummo
\nSO: T. Mertiff – 4, Ba. Gummo – 3, Peoples – 9
\nBB: T. Mertiff – 3, Ba. Gummo – 0, Peoples – 6
\nWP: Ba. Gummo LP: Peoples<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A change in the batting order played a major role yesterday in Tyrone’s most productive day at the plate in two weeks. But it was a pep talk in the middle of the fifth inning that lit a fire under the Golden Eagles and set the stage for Tyrone, down at one point by five […]<\/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-46814","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\/46814","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=46814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}