Miscues Costly
For Blues
PM Falls In Baseball To Liberty, EM
The Parry McCluer High School baseball team began the back half of its schedule last week, and the big inning continued to plague the Fighting Blues, as they dropped three games, including another Pioneer District setback.
PM surrendered 14 runs in the second inning en route to a 25-8 loss to Liberty (Bedford) on Monday of last week in Buena Vista and gave up 14 runs in the fifth to fall to visiting Rockbridge County 25-9 the next afternoon. (See separate story.) The Blues then allowed Pioneer District rival Eastern Montgomery to put up crooked numbers in four of the five innings of a 13-3 loss on Thursday in Elliston.
The three losses left the Blues with a 2-9 overall record, 0-4 against league foes.
Against Liberty (2-10), PM’s bats came to life somewhat under the lights, as the Blues tallied eight runs after being shut out in two of their three previous games, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a huge second inning from the Minutemen.
Liberty took a 2-0 lead after the first frame and blew the game open with 14 runs in the second, batting around twice and running wild on the base paths. In addition to the seven hits in the inning, Liberty stole three bases and took advantage of six walks, four passed balls and a pair of wild pitches. Aiden Cottrell delivered the big blow in the inning, lacing a bases-loaded triple to plate three runs.
Cottrell finished the game with three hits and seven RBIs to lead the Minutemen. Colton Manning also had three hits and scored three times, while Parker Armstrong went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Blues plated three runs in both the third and fourth. Kyler Ramsey drove in one of the runs in the third with a single, and Curtis King plated a pair with a triple in the fourth. However, it was not enough to overcome the big second inning from Liberty.
Kyle Smals, Colby Camden and Ramsey each had two hits to lead Parry McCluer. Camden scored twice for the Blues, and Sam Griffin added two RBIs.
EM 13, PM 3
The Blues looked to avenge a 15-0 road loss to the Mustangs on March 31, and they got off to a great start with three runs in the top of the first inning on Thursday.
Kyle Smals started the rally by reaching on an error and later scored on a passed ball. Ramsey chased home Camden with a ground ball, and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Adison Haynes pushed King across the plate to give PM the 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, however, EM (7-6 overall, 3-1 district) scored four times on just one hit. Aided by five PM errors in the frame, sandwiched around three strikeouts by King, who started on the mound for the Blues, the Mustangs turned backto- back walks to start the inning into runs. They took the lead when Mason Phoenix reached on an error and raced around to score on two more PM miscues.
That was all EM needed as the Blues failed to score the rest of the way. But the Mustangs ensured the victory by tacking on five more runs in the third and three more in the fifth to end the game.
The Blues did threaten in each of the final three innings. They loaded the bases in the third but EM got out of that jam with a 6-2-3 double play. PM got runners as far as third base in the last two frames, but both were stranded there.
The Blues were held to just four hits in the game, with Ramsey picking up two of those, including a double and an RBI. The Mustangs had only six hits in the contest, led by Phoenix and Coltin Conner with two hits each.
Conner also picked up the win on the mound for the Mustangs. He went four innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits while striking out five.
The Blues will visit Grace Christian School in Staunton on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before returning to Pioneer District action at Narrows on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
