On the turf, the court, the mat, and now the diamond: the Tyrone Golden Eagles baseball team came away with another huge victory in the 2015 baseball version of the Backyard Brawl, beating state ranked arch rival Bellwood-Antis 5-1 Saturday afternoon at Bellwood.

Going into the game Bellwood had a perfect 8-0 record and was ranked second in the state according to Maxpreps.  The Golden Eagles, off to a slow start, were hunting for their first win at 0-4.

Things didn’t start off well for the Eagles as Bellwood starting pitcher Randy Zitterbart struck out the first three batters he faced in the top of the first inning.

However, Tyrone responded with great defense that held Bellwood to zero runs almost the entire game.

Sophomore left handed pitcher Brian Gunter was an absolute stud on the hill. He made his first ever high school start look like he’s been doing it for years.

Gunter limited the Blue Devils to just four hits while tossing a perfect game the first four innings. In five innings of work, he gave up only four hits and one run and struck out five.

“Brian’s accuracy was tremendous. I’m so glad we were able to win this game for him. He did an incredible job. He took over the game pitching and hitting,” senior teammate Pooky Soellner said.

“To be able to pitch a four hitter against one of the best teams in Pennsylvania in his first varsity start is absolutely incredible. I’m so proud of Brian for stepping up,” senior teammate Bry Taylor said.

Tyrone struck first in the top of the third inning grabbing a 2-0 lead. Brian Gunter smacked a double down the third base line inching fair. Sophomore Gary Weaver also hit a double to right center scoring Gunter. Pooky Soellner scored Weaver with a hit of his own.

In the top of the seventh inning, Tyrone took advantage of several Bellwood errors and scored three more to pull away. Junior Zack Soellner hit a routine fly ball to center field, but it was dropped, scoring senior Bry Taylor of Tyrone. Then, Coy Focht picked up an RBI with a solid hit scoring Gary Weaver. The Golden Eagles added one more run to take a 5-1 lead.

Tristan Lingafelt came in to relieve Gunter in the sixth inning and pitched two perfect frames to secure the save and victory.

Box Score:

TYRONE (5): Weaver lf 422, N. Soellner ss 401, Z. Soellner 1b 411, Focht rf 401, Politza 3b 401, Hunter cf 200, Robison 2b 000, Maceno dh 000, Brenneman c 300, Gunter p 211, Lingafelt p 101. Totals – 31-5-8.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (1): Mock lf 311, Zitterbart p 300, Luensmann ss 301, Creppage c 200, Kowalski cr 000, McCracken cf 201, Kline rf 301, Padula 1b 200, Burns 2b 000, Brunner dh 100, Wertman dh 200, Showalter 3b 300. Totals – 24-1-4.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone: 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 -5 8 0
Bellwood-Antis: 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -1 4 5

E-Luensmann 2, Mock, Kline, Showalter. 2B-Weaver, Gunter. RBI-N. Soellner, Z. Soellner, Focht; Luensmann. WP-Gunter. LP-Zitterbart. SV-Lingafelt. SO-Gunter 5, Lingafelt 3; Zitterbart 7. BB-Gunter 2, Lingafelt 1; Zitterbart 1.

Records:

Tyrone (1-4); Bellwood-Antis (8-1).