JV add another win

Tyrone’s shortstop Zac LeGars fields a ground ball in Wednesday’s game against Juniata Valley. The Golden Eagles won 13-3.Photo by TERRY McCAULLEY JR.

By MICHAEL STONER Sports Writer for Tyrone Daily Herald

The Tyrone Golden Eagles won their second straight game Wednesday afternoon with a dominating victory over Juniata Valley. The Golden Eagle lineup stung the Hornets putting up thirteen runs on fifteen hits ending the game after five innings.

After a slow offensive start to the season, the Tyrone bats finally came alive exploding for three runs on the way to a convincing victory. This game showcased a balanced Eagle offensive onslaught as six starters recorded multiple hits.

Apart from Tyrone’s offense their pitching and defense were also lights out from the first pitch to the final out. Like his older brother, AJ Coleman took the mound and was absolutely dominant. He commanded the mound the entire game for Tyrone only surrendering six hits and three runs while striking out three.

After a first inning that ended with Tyrone trailing 1-0, their bats came alive scoring three runs and taking a 3-1 lead. The scoring began when Ryan Light lined a sacrifice fly to center field allowing the speedy Zac Legars to tag up from third base to tie the game 1-1.

1-1 was the closest the game would be for the rest of the game as two batters later Gayge Miller smoked a base hit over the first baseman’s head into right field bringing both Landon Hamer and Caiden Bonsell around to score putting Tyrone ahead 3-1, a lead they would not surrender for the remainder of the game.

After another Juniata Valley run in the top of the third inning Tyrone would once again respond pushing across two runs in the bottom of the third, with a sacrifice fly by Zac Legars that scored Ashton Walk and a perfectly placed bunt by Landon Hamer that scored AJ Coleman.

After both teams traded runs in the fourth inning Tyrone blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth inning when they scored 7 runs that would put them up 13-3 putting into effect the ten-run mercy rule and ending the game early.

In the monster fifth inning, Tyrone received key RBIs from Zac Legars who drove in the first run of the inning when he sent a triple flying down the right-field line scoring Ross Gampe from first.

Legars would drive in the winning run after Tyrone would bat around later in the same inning when he flew down the first baseline beating out an infield single, bringing in Ashton Walk to score the game’s final run.

With the victory, Wednesday afternoon Tyrone moves to 2-1 on the season. They will look to build off the momentum of their last two victories when they travel to Penns Valley Thursday afternoon as they look to win their third straight.

Tyrone 13, Juniata Valley 3

Tyrone (13): Walk 2b 423, Coleman p 311, Gampe p 1b 412, Legars ss 222, , Hamer c 222, Bonsell rf 111, Patterson 100, Light lf 211, Postreich 3b 100, Seager 3b 101, Miller cf 322 . Totals — 24-13-15.

Juniata Valley (1): Rodkey cf 200, Couch p 2b 300, Edwards 1b 311, Buckley rf 212, Robinson c 101, Deihl lf 201, Rowe dh 200, Harbest 3b 200, Thompson 211 Totals — 18-3-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 032 17x x–13 15 1

Juniata Valley 101 10x x–3 6 1

E–Couch 1, Coleman 1. WP–Coleman. LP– Couch. SO– Coleman 3, Couch 1, Spurlin 0. BB–Coleman 1, Couch 2, Spurlin 0.

Records: Tyrone (2-1); Juniata Valley (0-2).

The Golden Eagle Junior Varsity finished with another victory scoring ten runs to Juniata Valley’s six. “Timely two out hitting and a tough defense was the key to tonight’s victory,” Coach Murry explained. “This win was led by Buck, Rawlings, Jones, and Oakes.” Steven Buck scored three runs, Brienn Jones had two, and Kendall Lehner, Owen Oakes, and Eli Woomer all added one. “Each game different players step up and lead this team to victory, Murry continued. ” Lehner is leading the team with 8 hits followed by Brayden Parsons, Woomer and Oakes with three hits each and Dylan Ewing and Buck at two hits each.”

JV win big

Picture Caption: Tyrone’s Ross Gampe dives safely back to first base as Clearfield’s Hayvin Bumbarger awaits the throw. The Golden Eagles won 4-3. Photo by TERRY McCAULLEY JR.

by Michael Stoner for Tyrone Daily Herald

The Tyrone Golden Eagles took the field Monday afternoon for a matchup with the Clearfield Bison. Tyrone came out motivated to avenge their 12-4 loss to Bellefonte where the game seemed out of reach from the start. They rode the momentum of their big first inning to defeat the Bison 4-3 collecting their first victory of the season.

Tyrone’s arms came out hot as they dominated the Bison batters for 6 of the 7 innings, surrendering three runs on five hits while combining for 10 strikeouts. Tyrone turned to junior Landon Hamer for his first start of the season and he did not disappoint. Hamer dominated the Clearfield lineup for over four innings striking out five batters while only allowing three hits.

After Hamer’s night on the mound ended Tyrone turned to senior flamethrower Caiden Bonsell who keeps looking better and better every time he takes the mound after returning from Tommy John surgery he had in the winter. Bonsell was untouchable while on the mound including striking out all three batters he faced in the top of the 7th inning slamming the door shut, securing the win for Tyrone.

Tyrone pumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning on the heels of Thursday’s game where their offense struggled to gain any sort of momentum. Ashton Walk got the game started hot when he lined a single up the middle setting up the heart of the Tyrone lineup for success.

After back-to-back walks from AJ Coleman and Ross Gampe, Zac Legars got Tyrone on the board when he lined a double into center field bringing Walk and Coleman in to score. Tyrone would add two more runs the next batter on a line drive into the left-center gap off the bat of Landon Hamer bringing in Legars and Gampe across to extend Tyrone’s lead to 4-0.

The four-run outburst in the first inning was all the runs Tyrone got but that would ultimately be all they needed to secure the victory. Clearfield attempted a comeback as they pushed across three runs in the top of the 6th inning cutting Tyrone’s lead to one.

Clearfield’s hopes of a comeback were quickly snuffed out when Coach Soellner sent his hard-throwing closer Caiden Bonsell to the mound to record the last five outs and secure Tyrone’s first win of the season. All five outs of Bonsell’s were strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action Wednesday afternoon when they take on the Juniata Valley for a non-conference matchup with the Hornets looking to win their second straight and push their record above .500.

Tyrone 4, Clearfield 3

Tyrone (4): Walk 2b 311, Coleman cf 210, Gampe 1b ss 212, McClure 3b 300, Legars c ss 312, Hamer p c 301, Postriech 1b 100, Bonsell p 100, Patterson rf 300, Light lf 200, Totals — 23-4-6.

Clearfield (3): Bloom c 311, Domico rf 300, Billotte cf 402, Rumskey p 1b 300, Bumbarger 1b 100, Lopez ss 300, Welker 3b 312, Quick 2b 210, Kushner lf 300. Totals — 25-3-5.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 400 000 0 — 4 6 0

Clearfield 000 030 0– 3 5 0

WP–Hamer. LP– Rumskey. SO– Hamer 5, Bonsell 5, Rumskey 8, Mays 1 . BB–Hamer 3, Bonsell 2, Rumskey 3, Mays 1

Tyrone Junior Varsity topped Clearfield 16-2 with Dylan Ewing getting the win and Logan Seeger closing out the game. Runs scored were added by Ewing, Seger, Dylan McKinney and Connor McClure with one each while Gayge Miller, Brayden Parsons, Kendall Lehner, Eli Woomer, Steven Buck, and Brienn Jones added two each.

Photo by TERRY McCAULLEY JR. -Tyrone’s Brandon McClure slides and scores under the tag of Bellefonte’s Braedyn Kormanic. The Golden Eagles fell 12-4 in Thursday’s matchup.

by Michael Stoner for Tyrone Daily Herald

On the heels of their 12-inning tie, Monday night against Bald Eagle, they finally finished a game, but not how they would have liked. The Golden Eagles welcomed the Bellefonte Red Raiders to town Thursday afternoon for their home opener and were defeated 12-4 as the Red Raider offense was too much for the Golden Eagles to keep up with.

One of the few bright spots for Tyrone Thursday was the continued offensive output by AJ Coleman and Brandon McClure who both have started the season on a tear from the plate. Coleman continued his hot start to the 2023 season by scorching an opposite-field triple down the left-field line in the first inning. McClure recorded his hit on a line drive single up the middle in the third inning and later came around to score on an RBI single off the bat of Ashton Walk later in the inning.

Bellfonte jumped ahead of Tyrone early in the first inning when they took a 2-0 lead. Tyrone was able to jump right back into the game in the bottom of the first inning when an AJ Coleman triple was followed up by a Ross Gampe single to left field cutting Bellefonte’s lead to 2-1.

After Tyrone was able to cut Bellefonte’s lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first inning Bellefonte blew the game wide open in the second inning as they scored 5 runs extending their lead to 7-2. Tyrone was able to summon a little bit of a rally in the bottom of the third inning when they cut Bellefonte’s lead to 7-4 when Landon Hamer lined a base hit into right field bringing Coleman and Walk around to score.

Unfortunately, that was the closest the score would be for the rest of the game as the Bellefonte offense refused to let off the gas, adding more runs in the 4th and 6th innings to close the door on a Tyrone comeback.

Tyrone takes the field next Monday afternoon when they will welcome the Clearfield Bison to town as the Golden Eagles look to collect their first win of the season.

Bellefonte 12, Tyrone 4

Tyrone (4): Walk dh 411,Coleman cf rf, 221, Gampe 1b 201, Legars p cf 300, Hamer c 401, Bonsell ss 400, N, Patterson rf 100, J Patterson lf 301, Light lf p 101, Postreich p 100, McClure 3b 311. Totals — 28-4-7

Bellefonte (12): Johnson p cf 423, Vancas 2b p 501, Ebeling cf p 511, Heckman ss 431, Kormanic c 512, Capperella dh 512, Brown 3b 511, Corman 1b 410, Fisher lf 311 Totals — 40-12-12

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 102;000;0–4 7 7

Bellefonte 250;302;0–12 12 4

E– Bonsell 4, Miller 2, McClure, Brown, Heckman Vancas 2. WP–Johnson. LP– Legars. SO–Legars 0, Light 0, Postreich 1, Johnson 2, Ebeling 4, Vancas 1 BB–Legars 0, Light 0, Postreich 0, Johnson 2, Ebeling 3, Vancas 0

Records: Tyrone (0-1), Bellefonte (2-0)

In other game action: Tyrone Junior Varsity lost to Bellefonte 16-7 and Junior High dropped both games 9-1 and 7-2.

(click on photo to see full image)

Picture Caption: The seven seniors returning to the 2023 Golden Eagle Baseball squad are (front) Ryan Seeger, Joshua Patterson, Nathaniel Patterson, (back) Austin McClellan, Ross Gampe, Zac LeGars, and Caiden Bonsell.

Starting your senior season in any activity or sport is filled with mixed emotions. For those seniors in a spring sport it also marks the last time they will be part of a high school team. Tyrone’s Golden Eagle baseball team boasts the return of seven seniors, each bringing a unique set of skills, but one common and unified goal.

“We want to win the state title,” senior Ross Gampe clearly stated. “Our steps to that goal are to beat Bellwood, win the Mountain League, and make state play-offs.” Having been a starter on the 2021 State Championship squad, Gampe knows the importance of playing as a team to be successful. “Our team strength is that we have a large number of good athletes that can play a variety of different positions.”

The strength of players was also echoed by senior Ryan Seeger. “We have a solid bullpen with a lot of returning pitchers from last year’s team. We also have a pretty fast outfield,” Seeger added. ” I hope we have a healthy and successful year.”  
Returning starter Zac LeGars remembers the thrill of playing for a state championship and is optimistic about this 2023 squad. “I think our strengths are defense and hitting. Our pitching could get better, but with Caiden Bonsell back this year (from arm surgery), and it being early, there is a lot of time for improvement before the season starts.”
 “I agree, defensively we are solid and trust in each other to be in the right position to make plays,” Bonsell interjected.  “I want us to win Districts and advance to States, it’s just that simple.”
“This team has unity, passion and the competitiveness to win games,” senior Austin McClellan added repeating a common theme. “I believe with team play and the enjoyment of playing with each other, we can make a strong run for another state championship.”

Twin brothers Joshua and Nathaniel Patterson are looking forward to ending their senior year as teammates. “I am really looking forward to this season because of how much closer our team bond has become,” Nathaniel shared. “That bond will allow us to do great things. During every game I hope to help the team in any way possible to earn that win.” Joshua added, “Everyone has put in so much work throughout the off season and I’m excited to watch it transfer over to the games.”

Head Coach Kevin Soellner is looking to this group of seniors to lead his younger players. “The importance of leadership to a successful team is essential. When I look at this group of seven seniors, not only do we have a strong talent base, we also have young men who understand the concept of playing for and as a team. Their demeanor will shape the tone and ultimately the success of the other players in the dugout.” Soellner concluded, “It is so exciting to be back on the field and to share this season with this group of seniors.”

The public has an opportunity to see the seniors and their teammates at this year’s Meet the Eagle set for 4:00 on March 19 in the Middle School gym. The official season begins on Monday, March 27, against Bald Eagle Area with JV/Varsity away at 4:30 and Junior High home at 4:00. A full schedule of the Junior High and JV/Varsity Baseball season may be found on the Tyrone School District’s web site under Athletics and on the Baseball Booster site tyroneeaglesbaseball.com along with pictures and other team information.

Picture Caption:Golden Eagle pitcher Ryan Light, catcher Landon Hamer and batter Landon Postreich, along with their teammates, take advantage of a rare warm day to practice on the home field.

Usually the crack of the baseball bat brings thoughts of spring and warm nights playing America’s favorite game. For the 2023 Tyrone High School Golden Eagle Baseball team it all begins in freezing temperatures and snow. Beginning in December players have been working to prepare for the season in whatever way possible from weight training at the High School facility to conditioning in the gym, but neither of those options include putting a bat to a real ball. Head coach Kevin Soellner was able to arrange for players to use the batting cages in both the Tyrone Youth Athletic Association facility downtown and the Armory. “Trying to prepare for a spring sport during the winter is challenging, but these players are determined to bring their best game to the field every day and want to practice,” Soellner explained. “With both Junior High and JV Varsity players needing space to bat we had to use all available facilities.”

Varsity Assistant Head Coach Dave Mease sees a clear path to success for the Eagles. “The goal is always the same: to win your League, then the Districts and ultimately win the States. With the core of players we have coming back from last year and some of these young ones having to be pressed into a starting role right out of the gate, I think we will have a solid baseball team. The potential is always there and if the kids continue to do what they are supposed to do we will have a very successful season.”

Registration for the new season began in December resulting in thirty-three Junior High players and twenty-seven on the JV/Varsity level including seven seniors. Returning from surgery, senior Caiden Bonsell is anxious to start. “I think defensively we are solid and trust in each other to be in the right position to make plays. I want us to win Districts and advance to States.” The other senior players include Ross Gampe, Zac LeGars, Austin McClellan, Joshua Patterson, Nathaniel Patterson, and Ryan Seeger.

In addition to Soellner and Mease, the 2023 Eagle coaching staff includes Varsity Assistant Coach Luke Hamer, Head JV Coach Marvin Murray and Assistant Coach Jerrod Prugar, and Junior High Head Coach Eric Wardrop and Assistant Coaches Jeremy LaRosa, Eric Stroup, and Mike Walk.

Coach Soellner added, “This is a very diversified team. We will only have a few players locked into a certain position which means the rest of the roster is fair game and the competition for spots should be at a premium. Having players able to perform at more than one position will give us a lot of options. These players will do whatever it takes to make a playoff run even if it means having to practice with snow on the sidelines and scrimmaging on a frozen field in 30 degree weather,” Soellner concluded. “It is such an honor to work with this group of driven and unselfish young men.”

Meet the Eagle is set for 4:00 on March 19 in the Middle School gym and the public is welcome to attend. The official season begins on Monday, March 27, against Bald Eagle Area with JV/Varsity away at 4:30 and Junior High home at 4:00. A full schedule of the Junior High and JV/Varsity Baseball season may be found on the Tyrone School District’s web site under Athletics and on the Baseball Booster site tyroneeaglesbaseball.com along with pictures and other team information.

Picture caption: Tyrone Golden Eagle Varsity, JV and Jr High baseball teams join together for the opening week of practice.

In 2022, March 7 meant that PIAA spring sports could officially begin practices with the actual season being only two weeks away. Despite a rainy and cold week, Tyrone’s 2022 baseball teams were on the field taking advantage of the opportunity to hit and throw without the restraints of being indoors.

Following last year’s successful championship run, this group of players are focused and ready to confront the challenge. The Varsity/JV roster currently has 29 players in grades nine through twelve which includes six seniors and eight returning Varsity starters. The seventh and eighth grade Junior High program begins the season with a roster of 25 players.

For senior players Luke Brooks, Aiden Coleman, David Lang, Nick Lehner, Cortlynd Rhoades and Jesse Yingling this week is also the start of the countdown to a final season with their teammates. Coleman captured the feeling expressed by each senor, “I am so looking forward to being on the field my senior year with my brothers with whom I have grown up playing baseball.”

Preseason scrimmages are set for March 19 when the Varsity will face Juniata Valley at the Iron Horse stadium in Windber at 1:00. Both the Varsity and JV will scrimmage against Bishop Guilfoyle at home on March 24 beginning at 4:30.

March 28 will be the season opening games for all three squads with Varsity and JV playing at Hollidaysburg at 4:30 and Jr High hosting Hollidaysburg at 4:00. For game schedules, pictures, and updated news follow the teams by visiting Tyrone Golden Eagle Baseball at tyroneeaglesbaseball.com or on Facebook.