Metro

SIDMAN — In recent years, the Tyrone baseball team had seemed to have Forest Hills’ number.

The Golden Eagles upset Forest Hills in back-to-back playoff openers in 2022 and 2023, but as the two teams met Saturday in the District 6 Class 3A semifinals, the Rangers finally found their revenge.

Along with giving up a four-run fifth inning, fourth-seeded Tyrone allowed 11 hits throughout the afternoon and couldn’t keep up with the Rangers’ work at the plate as its season ended in a 6-1 loss.

“We knew what we were facing, and that’s a good team we played,” Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner said. “I thought we had a chance, especially when we got going in the second (inning), but left a couple guys on and couldn’t really get anything afterward. We had a good year, and it’s tough, because I thought we were peaking at the right time.”

Tyrone (15-6), which was on a six-game winning streak entering the semifinals, scored the opening run in the second inning after Owen Oakes sprinted home following a miscue by the Rangers’ infield.

But after recording a hit in each of the first two innings, the Eagles managed only two hits for the remainder of the afternoon and stranded runners at third base in both the first and third innings.

Much of Tyrone’s struggles at the plate were attributed to Forest Hills southpaw Chase Williamson, who fanned nine and allowed only four hits.

“The speed kind of got us a little bit,” Soellner said. “We really haven’t seen that type of speed at all this year.”

While he admitted his curveball wasn’t as effective, Williamson chose to dial in on his fastball and found instant results.

“I was just establishing that fastball and locating it well,” said Williamson, who threw 90 pitches in the complete-game effort. “I wanted to make them beat (the fastball) before I threw any other pitches. It was working well today.”

The Rangers (14-5) evened the score in the third after Nate Cornell (3-for-3) doubled with two outs to set up an RBI single by Bryce Roberts.

Eagles pitcher Carter Price entered the game in the fourth and struck out two of the three batters he faced, but in the fifth, Forest Hills strung together hits that quickly changed the trajectory of the afternoon.

With the bases loaded, Jake Yatsky was walked for an easy RBI to give Forest Hills the lead, and singles on two-consecutive at-bats by Gage Ruddek and Kolbie Smiach extended the lead to five before Price, Slippery Rock-commit Landon Hamer and Connor McClure all combined for a double play to end the inning.

All four runs in the fifth inning were driven by Forest Hills 7-8-9 hitters.

“You have to manufacture when you’re in the bottom of the order,” said Rangers coach Joe Carpenter, who is taking his team to the title game and state playoffs for the first time since 2018. “We tried to squeeze a bunt with Jeffrey Beyer, but (Hamer) made a great play to set up the double play. He’s a great catcher, and he’s going to Slippery Rock for a reason.”

Forest Hills used an RBI double by Roberts in the sixth to solidify the final score.

After the game, the two head coaches embraced at home plate as Soellner jokingly gestured to remove the “monkey off the back” of Carpenter.

“Tyrone is such a great program, and we’ve had great teams over the years that couldn’t get past these guys,” Carpenter said. “Coach Soellner does a great job over there. It’s a big deal to beat a team like this.”

The Eagles will part ways with seven seniors and will lose four starters.

“A couple of these seniors have started for four years, and they’ve been great,” Soellner said. “All of these guys bought into our hitting approach and got better and better throughout the year. District 6 is just so tough. I think both (Forest Hills) and Huntingdon have a really good chance beyond here. District 6 very well may represent in the state finals.”

TYRONE (1): Hamer c 300, B McClure 2b 301, Walk ss 300, Kustenbayder 3b 300, Oakes dh 312, Shirey lf 200, Jones lf 101, C McClure 300, Miller rf 300, Parsons cf 200. Totals — 26 1 4.

FOREST HILLS (6): Williamson p 400, Richardson cf 411, Cornell 3b 333, Roberts ss 312, Yatsky c 201, Ruddek lf 302, Smiach rf 201, Dombrosky 1b 301, Russell dh 200, Beyer dh 100. Totals — 27 6 11.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 010 000 0 — 1 4 0

Forest Hills 001 041 X — 6 11 2

E–Custer, Roberts. 2B–Roberts, Cornell. RBIs–Roberts 2, Smiach 2, Yatsky, Ruddek. SAC–Smiach.

Pitching

Forest Hills: Williamson 7IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 9K.

Tyrone: Ewing 3IP, 4H, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K. Price 2IP, 5B, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 2K. McClure 1IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K.

Records: Forest Hills (14-5); Tyrone (15-6).