.jpg)
Thursday, April 20 – Despite a strong comeback from an early 4-0 deficit, the Parry McCluer High School baseball team suffered an 8-4 home loss in nine innings to Pioneer District rival Narrows on Thursday evening in Buena Vista.
The Fighting Blues (7-3 overall, 4-3 district), coming off a 5-2 road win over district rival Craig County on Tuesday, saw their three-game winning streak snapped.
With the victory, Narrows (10-1, 7-0) completed a sweep of the regular-season series with the Blues. When the teams met on March 28 at Narrows, the Green Wave won 5-1. Last year, Narrows beat PM 7-6 in the district finals.
In Thursday’s game, the Green Wave got off to a strong start, getting a pair of hits on fly balls before Carson Crigger doubled on a fly ball to left field to bring home Aidan and Max McGlothlin, putting Narrows up 2-0.
After Aidan McGlothlin struck out all three batters he faced in the first, Narrows added another two runs in the second. Brody Robertson doubled on a fly ball to left field to drive in Reed Perdue, and Sam Albert scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Aidan McGlothlin.
The Blues cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second when Braedyn Houck ran home on a wild pitch.
Neither team scored again until the sixth when PM’s Maison Hamilton singled on a fly ball to center field to bring home Houck. The Blues then tied the game 4-4 when Peyton Ramsey ran home on a wild pitch, and then Hamilton scored on the same pitch.
After a scoreless seventh inning, the game went into extra innings, and Narrows began its late offensive surge in the ninth when Mason McCroskey scored on an error. Robertson then hit a grounder to drive in Perdue, extending the Green Wave’s lead to 6-4. Narrows scored its final two runs when Albert and Robertson ran home on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the ninth, singles by Tanner Coleman and Aaron Pruett kept the Blues’ hopes alive, but the Green Wave ended the game with two strikeouts and a catch in right field.
Narrows racked up 14 hits, while PM had six hits. Coleman led PM with two hits. Recording one hit each for the Blues were Hamilton, Pruett, Ramsey and Jase Barger.
Crigger and Aidan McGlothlin paced Narrows with three hits each, while Robertson and Max McGlothlin each recorded two hits.
Aidan McGlothlin pitched the first six innings for Narrows, striking out 10 and allowing three hits, one walk and four runs (one earned). Crigger pitched the final three innings, striking out five and surrendering three hits, no walks and no runs.
The Blues used three different pitchers. After Tyler Wade pitched the first 1.1 innings, Houck threw the next 6.2 innings until he was replaced due to the pitch count limitation by Peyton Ramsey in the ninth inning. Houck struck out 12 and allowed eight hits, two walks and eight runs (four earned).
PM committed seven errors, while Narrows had two.
The Blues will return to action when they play host to nondistrict rival Nelson County on Monday, with the 5 p.m. junior varsity game preceding the 7 p.m. varsity game.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Thursday’s game, please see our April 26 newspaper.
