PM On Seven-Game Baseball Skid
The big inning was the downfall for the Parry Mc-Cluer High School baseball team in a pair of Pioneer District home losses last week.
The Fighting Blues (1-10 overall, 1-5 district) surrendered 10 runs in one frame in their 12-8 loss to Highland County on Tuesday of last week. Two days later, PM dropped a 14-1 decision to visiting Narrows, giving up eight runs in the fourth as the Green Wave blew what was a close game wide open in dealing the Blues their seventh consecutive loss.
Against Highland (7-5, 3-3) last Tuesday, the Blues, who had cruised to an 18-3 win in five innings over the Rams on April first, posted a multi-run inning of their own, tallying four runs in the third inning to turn an early 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead.
Brayden Holdren led off the inning with a double and later scored on Caleb Clark’s RBI single. With two outs, Curtis King drew a basesloaded walk to chase home Peyton Ramsey, and Braedyn Houck followed with a single to drive in two more runs and give PM the 5-2 advantage.
That lead lasted until the fifth inning, when Highland banged out seven hits, took advantage of two PM errors, and posted the decisive 10 runs.
The Blues responded with three runs in the bottom half of the fifth, with Kyler Ramsey driving in one run and Holdren plating two more with a triple. However, PM, which left 12 runners on base in the contest, could get no closer.
The top of the PM lineup combined for six of PM’s nine hits in the game. Houck finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Kyler Ramsey had two hits in four at-bats, with a run and an RBI, while Holdren counted a triple among his two hits, scoring once and driving in two.
The Rams had four players with multiple hits. Zach Armstrong and Eli Moore did the bulk of the damage. Armstrong finished 2-for-5 and scored three runs, and Moore was 2-for-3 with two RBIS.
John Wagner picked up the win on the mound for the visitors, going 4.2 innings and working around six hits and five walks to surrender seven runs, only one of them earned. Houck suffered the loss for the Blues, striking out eight but giving up nine earned runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work.
Narrows 14, PM 1
The Blues were still within striking distance of leagueleading Narrows on Thursday afternoon, trailing just 4-0, but the Green Wave (10-1, 6-0) erupted for eight runs in the fourth inning and pulled away to sweep the season series with PM. When the two teams met on April 3 at Narrows, the Green Wave won 17-1 in five innings.
PM’s lone run in the rematch came in the bottom of that fateful fourth inning, as Colby Camden singled on a hard grounder to drive home Holdren, who had picked up his third triple of the season earlier in the inning.
Sam McGlothlin was the top hitter for Narrows, which mustered only six hits in the game but took advantage of five PM errors, while the Green Wave had no errors. The shortstop finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Tucker Bryan earned the win on the mound, striking out seven while allowing five hits, no walks and one earned run.
The Blues were scheduled to play host to Eastern Montgomery yesterday and will play a nondistrict game at Nelson County today, Wednesday, at 6 p.m. They’ll return to district action at Craig County on Thursday at 5 p.m. PM will play host to Rockbridge County on Saturday at 1 p.m. when 1963 PM graduate and former Major League Baseball player and manager Charlie Manuel will be honored by having the PM baseball field renamed for him.
The Blues will return to district action when they play at Bath County on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
FIGHTING BLUE sophomore first baseman Caleb Clark catches the ball as a Narrows player slides back to the bag. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
PM SENIOR Peyton Ramsey winds up to launch a pitch. In three innings, Ramsey struck out eight while allowing three hits, four walks and seven runs, two of them earned. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
