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The Parry McCluer High School baseball team split a pair of Pioneer District home games last week, falling at Bath County 10-8 last Monday before bouncing back with a 12-1 win in five innings at Eastern Montgomery last Tuesday. The Fighting Blues ended the week with a 12-0 nondistrict road loss to Nelson County on Friday.
Against Bath County, the Fighting Blues (8-7 overall, 5-4 district) were hurt by eight errors. The Chargers, who ended the week at 4-9 overall and 4-6 in the district, committed just one error.
PM got off to a strong start. In the first inning, Peyton Ramsey singled on a line drive to left field to bring home Maison Hamilton. Tanner Coleman then doubled on a line drive to left field to bring in Ramsey and Braedyn Houck, putting the Blues up 3-0.
Bath answered back with three runs in the third to tie the game 3-3. Wyatt Campbell singled on a line drive to left field to bring home Hunter Waldeck, and Isaac Ingram singled on a hard grounder to center field to drive in Campbell and Ethan Persinger.
In the third, Coleman hit a grounder and reached on an error, scoring Ramsey, and Cole Mills singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Coleman, giving PM a 5-3 lead.
The Chargers responded in the fourth when Campbell lined out to center field to drive in Hunter Ryder, cutting PM’s lead to 5-4.
In the bottom of the fourth, Tyler Wade singled on a hard grounder to left field to drive in Evan Cook, and Houck doubled on a line drive to center field to bring home Wade and Ramsey, extending PM’s lead to 8-4.
Bath started its rally in the sixth. Braydon Gibson scored on an error, and Campbell singled on a line drive to right field to bring home Ryder. Waldeck scored on an error, and Campbell scored on a sacrifice fly. The Chargers then took their first lead of the game when Ingram singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Cameron Lowry, putting Bath up 9-8.
The Chargers scored the final run of the game in the seventh when Lowry walked with the bases loaded to drive in Ryder.
PM racked up 14 hits, while Bath had 10. Ramsey and Mills led the Blues with three hits each, and Cook had two hits. Coleman paced PM with three RBIs.
Campbell led Bath with four hits and three RBIs, while Ingram added three hits and three RBIs.
Ingram pitched the first 5.1 innings for Bath, striking out seven and allowing 12 hits, two walks and eight runs (six earned). In the final 1.2 innings, Ryder struck out three and surrendered two hits, no walks and no runs.
The Blues used four pitchers. Starting was Wade, who pitched three innings, striking out six and allowing six hits, two walks and three unearned runs.
PM 12, EM 1
With a strong team effort, the Blues cruised to a 12-1 home win in five innings over Eastern Montgomery on Tuesday of last week.
It was a strong outing on the mound for Houck, who pitched all five innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits, four walks and one earned run.
The Blues had an impressive batting day on Tuesday, racking up 15 hits. Maison Hamilton led the way with three hits. Adding two hits each were Coleman, Cook, Wade, Brayden Holdren and Aaron Pruett. Wade led PM with three RBIs.
With the win, PM completed a sweep of the regular-season series with the Mustangs, who ended the week at 7-11 overall and 5-7 in the district. When the teams met on April 5 at EM, the Blues won 19-3 in five innings.
In the rematch, the Blues took a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Coleman singled on a line drive to bring home Hamilton for the first run, and Wade doubled on a line drive to left field to drive in Coleman and Ramsey. Holdren then doubled on a line drive to center field to bring in Houck and Wade.
PM added four more runs in the third to extend its lead to 9-0. Wade singled to left field to bring home Houck. Several plays later, Mills put the ball in play with a grounder and reached on an error, driving in Wade and Cook. After the Blues loaded the bases, Ramsey walked to bring in Mills.
The Mustangs scored their lone run in the top of the fourth when Aidan Shepherd doubled on a line drive to left field to bring home Lucas Jones, cutting PM’s lead to 9-1.
The Blues responded by scoring their final three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Cook singled on a bunt to drive in Pruett, and Mills doubled on a l ine d rive t o c enter fi eld t o bring home Caleb Jones and Grayson Caldwell.
In the top of the seventh, the Mustangs got a walk and a single, Houck struck out the final three batters to allow the Blues to end the game early due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Coltin Conner led EM with two hits, and Lucas Jones and Hunter Howard each had one hit.
The Mustangs committed four errors, while PM had one.
Reviewing the game, PM head coach Bryan Loy said, “I thought we hit well. I thought we ran the bases well. I thought we made plays defensively behind Bradeyn Houck, and he pitched well.”
NC 12, PM 0
The Blues suffered a 12-0 road l oss i n fi ve i nnings i n nondistrict action at Nelson County on Friday.
The Governors (9-6), who had beaten PM 13-0 on April 24 in Buena Vista, capitalized on seven PM errors while committing none in Friday’s game.
Nelson jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first before adding three runs in the second, two in the third and two in the fourth.
Nelson recorded six hits, while PM had two. James Allen and Mike Fitzgerald led the Governors with two hits each, while Fitzgerald led Nelson with three RBIs.
Coleman and Houck had a hit for PM.
The Blues used three pitchers, while Kevin Knight pitched all five innings for Nelson, striking out 11 in the shutout.
PM was scheduled to have a rematch at Bath County yesterday and will conclude the regular season at home against district rival Highland County on Thursday at 5 p.m. Before the game, the Blues will honor Hamilton, their lone senior.
The Blues will compete in the Pioneer District tournament next week. For the schedule and updates, visit www. thenews-gazette.com.
