Blues Bats Pound Highland, Fall Silent At Narrows
What a difference a week – and a couple of days – can make.
After starting the season 0-3, including being held hitless twice, the Parry McCluer High School baseball team took a week off for spring break, returning with an offensive outburst that resulted in an 18-3 victory at Highland County in the Pioneer District opener on Tuesday of last week. Just two days later, however, the bats went silent again as the Blues dropped a 17-1 decision at Narrows.
After a 14-1 loss at Rockbridge County on Saturday afternoon (see separate story), the Fighting Blues would end the week at 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the district.
Against Highland, the Blues pounded out 15 hits and scored in every inning but the first to cruise to the win over the Rams (3-5 overall, 1-3 district) Every player in the PM lineup hit safely in the contest, including four players who recorded multiple knocks.
Highland actually scored first in the contest, turning an error to open the home half of the first inning into a 1-0 lead. From there, however, PM hurler Braedyn Houck allowed just two more hits, resulting in two more unearned runs, while striking out six in his four innings of work to pick up the win. Brayden Holdren struck out the side in the fifth and final inning to close out the game for the Blues.
PM took the lead with three runs in the top of the second. Caleb Clark led off with a single and moved to third on Colby Camden’s single. The Blues pulled off a double steal to plate their first run, and a wild pitch and passed ball later, PM took the lead when Camden raced across the plate. With two outs in the inning, Lane Luckton singled to plate Kyler Ramsey, who had walked, and the Blues had a 3-1 advantage.
From there, PM plated three more runs in the third, tallied four in the fourth and blew the game wide open with an eight-run fifth inning.
Included in the fifth inning outburst was a solo home run from Holdren, who came up a single short of the cycle in the contest. Going 3-for-5 in the game, Holdren tripled in a run in the third, homered and doubled in the fifth and finished the game with a team-high four RBIs.
Clark also had three hits for the Blues, scoring four times and driving in two. Houck, at the top of the lineup, went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, and Luckton recorded a pair of hits, scoring once and driving in a run. Michael Fleming II had a bases-loaded double to drive in two runs for the Blues, and he also walked two times.
Narrows 17, PM 1
The Blues could not sustain the momentum from last Tuesday’s win. After the long drive to Narrows on Thursday, PM mustered only one hit, a single from Houck, in the 17-1 loss to the Green Wave (6-1, 4-0).
PM scored its lone run in the second inning, when Curtis King walked and eventually scored on Camden’s groundout.
By that time, it was too late. Narrows, the defending Pioneer District champion, sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, with 11 of them scoring, to all but put the game away early.
Two Narrows pitchers combined to shut down the Blues. Though he walked seven PM batters, Sam McGlothlin struck out six and allowed just one hit in his 4.2 innings of work to earn the win. Parker Bryan recorded the final out for the home team.
King was saddled with the loss for the Blues, giving up eight runs and five hits in just a third of an inning. Four different PM pitchers were touched up by the Green Wave.
The Blues were scheduled to return to district action at Eastern Montgomery yesterday and will return home after a four-game road trip to face district rival Craig County on Thursday. They’ll continue district action at home against Bath County on Tuesday. Both games are scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
