Blues Pound JCA, Get Edged By GCS
The Parry McCluer High School baseball team came up just short of a pair of wins last week.
After dismantling Jefferson Christian Academy 16-5 in five innings on Monday of last week in Ripplemead, a furious seventh-inning rally was not enough in a 5-4 loss to Grace Christian School in Staunton on Friday.
“If you look at the stats, I think that was a winnable game for us,” PM head coach Bryan Loy said of the loss. “It was one of our cleaner games, but they had a couple of pitchers that kept us off balance. It definitely was a game we could have won.”
The Fighting Blues (3-10) got one of their best pitching performances of the season in the loss to Grace Christian as starter Curtis King allowed just one hit and struck out 10 in his four innings of work. However, the Warriors took advantage of five walks, three hit batsmen, and five wild pitches to tally two runs in each the first and third innings.
Then Grace Christian (8-5) got a huge insurance tally in the fourth when a two-out error allowed a run to score after Ethan Wright’s RBI single. That gave the Warriors a 5-1 lead and proved to be huge as the Blues fought back furiously in the top of the seventh.
In that seventh, Dylan Smals led off with a double for PM, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Sam Griffin’s hard ground ball was misplayed in the infield. Eduar Meza followed with a walk, and Kyle Smals singled to load the bases. Colby Camden plated two runs with a double to cut the PM deficit to 5-4, but the Blues could get no closer as GCS reliever John Shirley struck out the last two batters to preserve the win for the Warriors.
“We had our three and four guys coming to the plate but just couldn’t execute,” Loy lamented. “There were some other scenarios earlier in the game when we had guys on base and couldn’t get them across.”
While the Blues finished the game with seven hits, they could not come up with the big hit when they needed it. The Blues left six runners on base in the game, including five in scoring position.
Camden and Dylan Smals each recorded two hits to lead PM. Camden finished with two RBIs, and Griffin drove in two runs as well.
PM 16, JCA 5
The Blues had no problem driving in runs in last Monday’s contest at Jefferson Christian Academy, pounding out 12 hits and finishing with 16 RBIs.
“If it wasn’t the best offensive game of the year, it certainly was one of the best,” Loy said. “We hit the ball really well that day and had some good pitching performances. We still have some things to clean up, but we definitely hit the ball well that day.”
With the victory, the Blues completed a sweep of the season series with JCA. When the teams met on April 7 in Buena Vista, PM won 18-8 in six innings.
The onslaught began from the start. King and Kyler Ramsey each doubled to drive in a run in the first inning to give the Blues an early 2-0 advantage. PM tacked on three more runs in the third as Dylan Smals led off with a double and scored on Camden’s double. Lane Luckton and Ramsey both drew bases-loaded walks to give PM 5-0 cushion.
The Cardinals, who now stand 4-8 on the season, cut the lead to 5-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the second, but the Blues were able to all but put the game away with a huge third frame.
PM scored seven times in that inning to extend the lead to 12-2. A walk and two singles loaded the bases, and Kyle Smals chased one run home when he was hit by a pitch. Camden grounded out to plate another rune, and Luckton provided the big blow when he cleared the bases with a three-RBI double.
“We were able to minimize that second inning and then respond,” said Loy. “That was big.”
Luckton finished the game with five RBIs to pace the Blues. Eight members of the starting lineup finished with a hit for PM including Camden and King, who both banged out two hits, scored three runs, and drove in three more. Ramsey was also 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Dylan Smals was 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs.
Three PM pitchers combined for the victory on the mound. Camden went the first two and a third, striking out six and walking seven. Dylan Smals struck out in his 1.2 innings of work, and Adison Haynes worked a perfect fifth, striking out two.
The Blues were scheduled to play at Narrows yesterday and will continue district action at home against Bath County on Thursday at 5 p.m. before concluding the regular season with a nondistrict game at Liberty (Bedford) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
