Things didn\u2019t look good for Bellwood-Antis pitcher Adam Plummer in the season opener for the Blue Devils at Tyrone on Thursday.
\nPlummer walked Eagles\u2019 leadoff batter Tyler Mertiff and then wild-pitched him to second base. Mertiff moved over to third on a groundout by Brandon Maceno and then scored the first run of the game on another wild pitch. Down 1-0 with just one out in the bottom of the first, Plummer regrouped, walked just one more hitter, struck out 10 and allowed just two singles in six innings in a 7-1 Bellwood-Antis (1-0) winto help new B-A coach Steve Conlon begins his career with a win.
\nTyler Mertiff held B-A hitless through the first three innings for Tyrone, although Bellwood-Antis tied the score in the third when Ricky Shannon was safe on an errant throw by Brice Mertiff, the first of four Tyrone errors with one out. With Shannon on second following the two-base miscue, Ricky took off attempting to steal third base. Eagle catcher Derrick Soellner threw the ball into left field attempting to get the runner and Shannon trotted home tying the score 1-1.
\nBellwood-Antis then scored two runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to complete the victory.
\n\u201cIt was wonderful, I was excited,\u201d said Conlon. \u201cThe pitching was just wonderful, I couldn\u2019t be happier with two hits allowed. Adam pitched a great game. I only took him out because this was our first game and he was up in the 80s in his pitch count. We had a 7-1 lead and I have confidence in any of the guys on our pitching staff.\u201d
\nDerrick Miller walked to lead off the fourth and moved to third base on a perfect hit-and-run single to right field by Nate Carlson. With two outs, Andy Brisbin scratched an infield single to score Miller. Mertiff threw wild trying to pick Brisbin off first allowing Carlson to score.
\nIn the fifth inning, Zac Stere drew a one-out walk and scored all the way from first when Plummer slammed a triple down into the right field corner. Plummer scored the second tally of the inning on a wild pitch.
\nWith two out in the seventh, Bellwood-Antis scored a pair of insurance runs. Plummer walked, went to second on an error by Max Soellner, who took over for Mertiff on the mound to begin the seventh inning, trying to pick Plummer at first. Shawn Weiand singled to left to score Plummer. Weiand scored on the final Golden Eagle error.
\n\u201cOur defense was great and we got timely hitting,\u201d said Conlon. \u201cWe didn\u2019t hit the ball hard, but we were aggressive on the bases and made some things happen.\u201d
\nBrice Mertiff had both of Tyrone\u2019s hits as Plummer retired the final 13 batters he faced, helping himself by picking a runner off first base, who wandered too far off the base in the sixth inning. After Tyler Mertiff scored, leading off the game, Plummer didn\u2019t allow another runner to reach third base and only Brice Mertiff was able to reach second base when he singled and moved up on a wild pitch in the third inning.
\nMertiff pitched six inning for Tyrone, walking four and striking out three, giving up five runs, three earned on four hits. Max Soellner pitched 2\/3 of an inning allowing two runs, one earned on two hits and a walk and Barry Gummo tossed the final 1\/3 of an inning allowing no runs and one hit.
\nTyrone, who dropped a 6-5 loss to Huntingdon in their opener when Huntingdon scored five seventh-inning runs, falls to 0-2.
\n\u201cPlummer was struggling a little bit early,\u201d explained Tyrone coach Tom Coleman. \u201cHe was throwing high and our batters were patient, being selective and getting on base. He had a couple walks in the first couple innings. But our bats shut down once Plummer got stronger and started throwing strikes. The only one who hit was Brice. I\u2019ve told our kids it doesn\u2019t matter who you play, a smaller sized school or a big one. You don\u2019t get many wins with two hits. We have to work some more and get things going hopefully for next week.\u201d
\nPlummer and Derrick Miller hit triples for the Blue Devils. Brisbin\u2019s two hits came on an infield hit and a perfectly-placed bunt down the third base line.
\nNate Carlson pitched a perfect one-two-three seventh inning in relief of Plummer, striking out one and getting a pair of groundouts.
\nBellwood-Antis 7 Tyrone 1
\nBELLWOOD-ANTIS- Shannon, cf, 4-1-1; Stere, ss, 2-1-0; Plummer, p-1b, 3-2-1; Weiand, c, 3-1-1; Miller, 3b, 3-1-2; Carlson, 1b-p, 4-1-1; Kenawell, lf, 1-0-0, Albright, dh, 2-0-0; Brisbin, 2b, 3-0-2; Myers, rf, 3-0-0. TOTALS 28-7-8.
\nTYRONE- T. Mertiff, p-cf, 2-1-0; Maceno, 2b, 3-0-0; B. Mertiff, ss, 3-0-2; M. Soellner, cf-p, 3-0-0, Friling, lf, 0-0-0; Be. Gummo, 3b, 3-0-0; Ba. Gummo, lf-p, 3-0-0; D. Soellner, c, 3-0-0; Wilson, rf, 1-0-0; Cushion, 1b, 2-0-0. TOTALS 23-1-2.
\nBellwood-Antis 001 220 2 7-8-1.
\nTyrone\t 100 000 0 1-2-4.
\n3B: B-A-Plummer 1, Miller 1.
\nRBI: B-A- Plummer 1, Weiand 1, Brsibin 1.
\nSO: B-A- Plummer 10, Carlson 1, T-T. Mertiff 3, Ba. Gummo 1.
\nBB: B-A- Plummer 2, T- T. Mertiff 4, M. Soellner 1.
\nWP: Plummer LP: T. Mertiff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Things didn\u2019t look good for Bellwood-Antis pitcher Adam Plummer in the season opener for the Blue Devils at Tyrone on Thursday. Plummer walked Eagles\u2019 leadoff batter Tyler Mertiff and then wild-pitched him to second base. Mertiff moved over to third on a groundout by Brandon Maceno and then scored the first run of the game […]<\/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-46984","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\/46984","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=46984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}