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Competing in a tight Pioneer District battle, the Parry Mc-Cluer High School baseball team earned a 9-7 road win over Eastern Montgomery on Tuesday of last week in Elliston.
Bouncing back from an 18-3 home loss to Rockbridge County the night before, the Fighting Blues (3-2 overall, 2-0 district) got off to a strong start against the Mustangs, who would end the week at 5-3 overall and 0-2 in the district after falling to Narrows 18-8 on Thursday.
PM scored three runs in the first inning. After drawing a walk, Tyler Wade scored on an EM error. Tanner Coleman then scored on a passed ball to extend the Blues’ lead to 2-0, and Aaron Pruett tripled on a line drive to right field to bring home Jase Barger, making it 3-0.
The Mustangs answered in the bottom of the first when Austin Tate hit a two-run home run to left field, bringing home Caleb Jones to cut PM’s lead to 3-2.
EM scored three runs in the second to take a 5-3 lead. Mason Phoenix singled on to left field to bring home Coltin Conner, and Tate singled to left field to drive in Phoenix and Jones.
The Blues responded with four runs in the top of the third. Pruett, Braedyn Houck and Braden Conley all scored on a Mustang error to give the Blues a 6-5 lead. Brayden Holdren then scored on a passed ball to make it 7-5.
EM responded with a run in the bottom of the third when Preston Kennedy singled on a hard grounder to left field to bring home Conner, cutting PM’s lead to 7-6.
The Blues then answered again in the top of the fourth when Peyton Ramsey singled on a grounder to left field to drive in Pruett, extending their lead to 8-6. In the top of the fifth, PM loaded the bases and scored when Pruett walked to bring home Jordan Brockenbrough, making it 9-6.
The Mustangs scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Jones scored on a PM error. For the rest of the game, the Blues’ defense played well behind Wade, who struck out three more batters and allowed just one hit.
In 5.2 innings of relief, Wade struck out six and surrendered seven hits, four walks and five runs. Houck pitched the first 1.1 innings for the Blues, striking out two and allowing four hits, two walks and two runs (one earned).
PM head coach Bryan Loy praised Wade, a sophomore, for coming into the contest with the score tied 3-3 and helping the Blues earn the win. “I thought Tyler Wade entered the game in a tough spot and minimized for us and went on to have a good outing.”
The Mustangs racked up 11 hits, while the Blues had 10. “Eastern Montgomery hit the ball well against us,” said Loy. “We were able to string together enough good at-bats and hits to win the slugfest.”
“It was a good win to move to 2-0 in district play,” added Loy. “It was nice to show that the team is capable of winning in a slugfest and retaking the lead after falling behind in the second.”
Holdren, Pruett and Wade led PM with two hits each, with Pruett pacing the Blues with two RBIs.
Tate had three hits and four RBIs to lead the Mustangs, while Kennedy added three hits, and Jones recorded two hits.
The Mustangs used three different pitchers – Tate, Jones and Conner – striking out 11 while allowing 10 hits, seven walks and nine runs (four earned).
EM committed five errors while PM had two. The Blues were scheduled to have home games against Grace Christian on Monday and Bath County yesterday. They’ll continue district action with a home game against Craig County on Thursday before playing host to nondistrict rival Altavista on Monday, with both games starting at 5 p.m.
