WINGATE - Bald Eagle Area's 3-1 lead wasn't making Jim Gardner very comfortable.
The Eagles' coach knew Tyrone wasn't going away easily, and even though his defense was playing a spectacular game, anything could happen in the top of the seventh inning.
It almost did.
The Golden Eagles plated a run to cut the gap in half, but Dylan Womer was able to coax two consecutive fly outs to secure the 3-2 victory in a District 6 Class AA quarterfinal game.
The contest picked up in the second inning where it was postponed Monday because of rain.
Bald Eagle advances to Thursday's semifinal game against top-seeded Mount Union, a 6-2 winner over Central Cambria two days ago.
"That game was closer than I would have liked, and closer than I expected," Gardner said. "However, I told somebody today that I was as nervous about this game as I was about any game. When you look at what Tyrone did this year, yes they got blown out some games, but they played a lot of tough teams tough. Obviously, they did today."
Tyrone, the 12th seed, upset fifth-seeded Blairsville on Thursday, earning the right to face No. 4 BEA and continue its season.
The Golden Eagles (6-13) played the game well enough to win Tuesday, but a few errors and two monster grabs by BEA's Tyler Bennett and Justin Taylor in the infield halted momentum swings and runners from scoring.
"They stayed in the game. That is the biggest difference between this year and last year is that these guys don't let one or two runs defeat them," Tyrone coach Mark Savino said. "Last year, they were out of the game if the other team was one run or two runs up. This year, they constantly battle. We scored seven runs in the seventh inning against Blairsville. This game, we scored one at the end and had two guys on base at some points. I'm proud of the way they played. These seniors changed the future of Tyrone baseball. They don't realize it yet, but I think they broke the chain."
Bald Eagle (14-7) clung to a 2-1 advantage before Kyle Womer's monster home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth gave the Eagles a small cushion to work with.
Tyrone's Jesse Shaffer started off the top of the seventh with a single to left field, and two batters later, Courtland Pannabaker's roller to the outfield scored a courtesy runner from second base. Facing a tough situation late in the game, Dylan Womer buckled down and got the final two batters out to end the game.
The win was his fifth of the season as the Eagle gave up seven hits, four walks and sat down four batters. Both runs were earned.
On the opposing hill and working with an inconsistent strike zone, Tyrone's Korry Cowher was making his first start of the varsity season as Savino had to do some shuffling in his lineup with kids missing for various reasons. He gave up six hits, walked one Eagle batter and struck out two in five innings of work.
"That was his first start. We had starters in positions this year that have not played varsity baseball yet," the Tyrone coach said. "This was their first varsity appearance, and they played a good game. We had some kids out [Monday] in our lineup, and we were without our starting catcher and a few other key positions. They are versatile. We played a versatile game, but just came out on the other side.
"It made it easier to hit that home run when you have to throw a meatball down the middle of the plate to get a strike called. That's my feeling on that home run."
SCORE BY INNINGS
Tyrone000 100 1 - 2 7 3
Bald Eagle Area002 001 X - 3 6 0
WP - Womer. LP - Cowher. HR: Womer (BEA). 2B-Dorminy (T), Womer (BEA). Multiple hits-Womer 2.
Records: Tyrone (6-13), Bald Eagle Area (14-7).
