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By Paul Buriak
For the Mirror
JOHNSTOWN -- Tyrone capitalized on a plethora of Westmont Hilltop defensive miscues in Friday night's District 6 Class 3A high school baseball quarterfinal, and that opportunistic play combined with a strong pitching performance propelled the Golden Eagles to a 7-2 victory at Johnstown's Sargent's Stadium at the Point.
All of the runs for fifth-seeded Tyrone (11-10) were unearned as a result of a total of six errors by the fourth-seeded Hilltoppers (11-9), while Golden Eagle hurlers Landon Hamer and Ross Gampe combined to limit Westmont to five hits and zero walks on the night.
"We've rode our pitching as much as we could this year," Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner said.
Hamer got the start and the win by going four innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three. Gampe came on to close things out, striking out four and surrendering two hits in three innings of work.
Center fielder A.J. Coleman had two of Tyrone's seven hits and drove in a run.
"The offense came through when they had to," Soellner said.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first inning. Zac LeGars drew a leadoff walk, and Ashton Walk followed with a single. Gampe then reached on an error that allowed LeGars to score and moved Walk to third.
One out later, Coleman dropped down a squeeze bunt to bring home Walk, and Brandon McClure followed with a line-drive single to right to make it 3-0.
The Hilltoppers answered in the bottom of the frame, as Gavin Hockenberry and Jack Wesner led off with consecutive singles to put runners at the corners with no outs.
After Hamer fanned Eli Thomas, Landrey Burnheimer's sacrifice fly plated Hockenberry with the first Hilltopper run.
That 3-1 margin continued to hold until the top of the fifth. Kendall Lehner's leadoff walk was followed by a single to left from Gayge Miller. After a strikeout and a fielder's choice, Lehner came home when Gampe reached on an error to make it 4-1.
Tyrone had a chance to extend that lead in the sixth, but Westmont's Natallo Rocco was able to work out of a bases-loaded jam after a leadoff single, error and two-out walk.
The Golden Eagles put the contest away with three runs in the top of the seventh. LeGars led off with a double and subsequently scored on back-to-back errors. Hamer added an RBI single, and Walk later came home on a wild pitch for the final Tyrone run.
Westmont Hilltop plated a run in its final at-bat. Sully Weir led off with a single, stole second and later scored on a base hit by Nick Rozich.
"We did a lot of good things this year," said first-year Hilltopper coach Chris DelSignore. "This taste of defeat will hopefully be motivation for us to work a little harder. We hope to be back here next year and take another step forward."
Tyrone advanced to face top-seeded Forest Hills in the district semifinals on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Sidman. The Rangers beat the Golden Eagles, 6-3, in the Curve Classic on April 14.
"That's our reward for our effort here tonight," Soellner said . "Forest Hills is a solid team."
TYRONE (7): LeGars c 321, Walk ss 421, Gampe 1b-p 420, Hamer p-c 401, Coleman cf 302, McClure 3b 401, Paterson dh 300, Lehner 3b 210, Miller 301. Totals--30-7-7.
WESTMONT HILLTOP (2): Hockenberry cf 311, Wesner 1b 301, Thomas dh 300, Burnheimer rf-lf 200, Amaranto p-2b 200, Weir lf-rf 311, Gyure c 300 Rozich ss 301 Wilks 3b 301. Totals--25-2-5.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Tyrone 300 010 3 -- 7 7 1
Westmont Hilltop 100 000 1 -- 2 5 6
E--McClure, Burnheimer 3, Rozich 2, Wilks. 2B--LeGars. RBI--Gampe, Hamer, Coleman, McClure, Burnheimer, Rozich. SB--Walk, Gampe, McClure, Weir, Wesner. CS--Coleman. WP--Hamer, Rupert. PB--none. HBP--Hamer, Amaranto.
PITCHING
Tyrone: Hamer (W) -- 4 innings, 3 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 70 pitches. Gampe -- 3 innings, 2 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 42 pitches.
Westmont Hilltop: Amaranto (L) -- 4 innings, 4 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 4 R, 0 ER, 66 pitches. Rocco -- 2 innings, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 39 pitches. Rupert -- 0 innings, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 3 R, 0 ER, 12 pitches. Gartner-- 1 inning, 0 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 pitches.