Blues Swept By JR, Shut Out By Altavista
The opening of the 2025 baseball season did not go exactly as the Parry McCluer High School squad would have liked.
The three games to start the year were an offensive struggle for the Fighting Blues (0-3), who fell 3-0 at home against Altavista last Wednesday, a game that was sandwiched by a pair of losses to James River, 17-1, in the opener on Monday of last week in Buchanan and 10-0 on Friday in Buena Vista.
“It was kind of a rollercoaster week for us,” said PM head coach Bryan Loy. “We started off with [Monday’s loss], played well on Wednesday, and came back down the hill on Friday. We have to find a way to put it all together.”
While the Blues were held hitless in Wednesday’s contest with the Colonels, PM starting pitcher Curtis King matched zeroes with Altavista’s Jax Shelton for three innings. But in the fourth, a walk and two hit batsmen led to the first run of the game for the Colonels (2-1). While that was all they needed, they tacked on two more runs, one each in the fifth and seventh frames, to seal the win.
Shelton and Altavista reliever Avery Payne were dominant, allowing only three base runners in the game while combining for 16 strikeouts. Shelton went four innings and fanned eight for the win. King took the loss for the Blues, going three innings on the mound while giving up a run and striking out four.
PM’s only threat came in the second inning. King led off with a walk, and he went to second when Kyler Ramsey was hit by a pitch. But Shelton struck out the next two PM batters to get out of the jam.
“We’re a little hesitant at the plate right now,” explained Loy, whose 10-man roster consists of three freshmen and three sophomores seeing significant varsity action for the first time. “We hit the ball hard a couple of times, but not enough. As the year goes on, we’ll get better. We’ll figure it out.”
JR Sweeps PM
Opening the season at James River, the Blues scored the first run of the season in the first inning of the year. Colby Camden singled and moved to second on a passed ball; he then raced home when King laced an RBI-single to center field with two outs.
That was it for the Blues, however. The Knights, tallied four runs in the bottom half of the inning and put the game away with a 10-run fourth inning.
Lane Luckton had the only other hit in the game for PM.
In Friday’s contest, the Knights tallied six runs in the second inning and held the Blues without a hit for the second straight game, cruising to the 10-0 victory to improve to 3-0.
“It’s a tough nondistrict schedule,” said Loy, who is starting his eighth year as the Blues’ head coach. “Hopefully, this prepares us for the end of the season.”
Last year, PM went 13-7 overall and 9-1 in the Pioneer District before falling to Narrows in the district finals and concluding the season with a 9-0 loss to Giles in the Region 1C quarterfinals. The Blues graduated seniors Tanner Coleman and Aaron Pruett from last year’s team, but they return seven players, led by seniors Brayden Holdren, Braedyn Houck, Peyton Ramsey and Brylan Wade.
The Blues are on spring break this week and have no games. They’ll start Pioneer District action next week with two road games, on Tuesday, April 1, at Highland County and on Thursday, April 3, at Narrows. They’ll continue district action at Eastern Montgomery on Tuesday, April 8, before playing host to district rival Craig County on Thursday, April 10. All games are scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
The Blues were originally scheduled to play at local rival Rockbridge County this Friday, but that game was postponed due to PM’s spring break and has been rescheduled for Monday, April 14, at 5 p.m.
FIGHTING BLUE sophomore Curtis King unleashes a pitch against Altavista. King pitched the first three innings, striking out four while allowing one hit, two walks and one earned run. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
