PM to Play Fort Chiswell Today In Regionals
Parry McCluer’s run through the Pioneer District baseball tournament came to an end last Tuesday (May 19) when the Blues suffered a 20-3 setback in the consolation game at Eastern Montgomery. But that doesn’t mean the season is over for the Blues.
By virtue of its fourth-place finish in the district tourney, the Blues earned a spot in the upcoming Region 1C championships and are slated to hit the road today to take on Mountain Empire District regular-season champion Fort Chiswell.
“It was close for a little while,” said PM head coach Bryan Loy of the district contest against Eastern Montgomery. “Then they just started to pull away from us, and we couldn’t stop the bleeding. They were aggressive on the base paths and took advantage of us there.”
The Mustangs, who fell to Bath County in the first round and sport an 8-13 record heading into regional play, finished the game with 11 stolen bases and began to pull away with a seven-run second inning. Eastern Montgomery took advantage of four Parry McCluer errors in that inning and scored those runs on just four hits.
That was more than enough for Eastern Montgomery starting pitcher Mason Phoenix, who picked up the win, going four innings and allowing an unearned run on only one hit while striking out five.
“One positive from the game is we did hit the ball hard a couple of times; it just happened to be right at people or they made a really good play,” said Loy. “[Phoenix] throws it well, but we just couldn’t get enough hits and timely runs early to keep us in it.”
The Blues finally got to Phoenix in the fourth when Curtis King reached on an error and later scored on a passed ball. King was also responsible for driving in PM’s other two runs, lacing a triple in the fifth to chase Kyle Smals and Colby Camden, who both singled, to the plate.
By then, however, it was too little, too late. Eastern Montgomery piled on with 10 more runs in the fourth to ensure the victory.
Three different players recorded a pair of hits for the Mustangs, led by Caleb Jones, who finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Phoenix helped his own cause with a 2-for-4 outing, scoring once and driving in one, while Logan Owen was 2-for-3 with three runs.
Kyler Ramsey recorded the only other hit for the Blues with a single in the second inning.
“I know our record wasn’t there; we had some lopsided losses; and it’s hard to tell on paper,” said Loy, whose team fell to 3-15 with the loss to Eastern Montgomery, “but from the beginning of the year to [now], we have made some improvements.”
The first round game in the regional tournament is slated to begin at 5 p.m. Should rain interfere, as expected, the contests will be postponed to the next day, and all regional play must be completed by Saturday, June 6.
