Blues Wrap Up Baseball Campaign

The curtain closed on the Parry McCluer High School baseball season with a pair of home losses, a 16-12 setback against Narrows in the Pioneer District finals on Monday of last week and a 9-0 loss to Giles in the Region 1C quarterfinals on Thursday.

Last Monday, the top-seeded Fighting Blues (13-7 overall, 9-1 district) made a valiant effort to trim an 11-run deficit in the sixth inning against second-seeded Narrows (15-5, 9-2), but the Green Wave held on for a 16-12 road win in a game that lasted about three hours in Buena Vista.

Narrows would conclude its season with a 9-5 loss to Grayson County in the Region 1C quarterfinal on Thursday.

The Fighting Blues had won both regular-season games against Narrows, 5-2 on March 27 at Narrows and 7-1 on April 18 in Buena Vista.

In last Monday’s meeting, however, the Green Wave went up 3-0 in the first inning and never relinquished the lead.

After Narrows extended its lead to 5-0 in the third, the Blues scored four runs in the bottom of the third to cut it to 5-4. Narrows then responded with three runs in the fourth to go up 8-4.

PM scored one run in the fifth, but the Green Wave erupted for eight runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 16-5.

The Blues then rallied in the bottom of the sixth, scoring seven runs. The offensive eruption started when Jase Barger walked and Aaron Pruett doubled, setting up Brayden Holdren to bring home Barger with a single to right field. Pruett then scored on a single on a hard grounder by Tyler Wade. The Blues loaded the bases and scored their next two runs on walks, and Tanner Coleman singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Peyton Ramsey and Braden Conley. PM scored its final run of the game on a walk with the bases loaded, but Narrows pitcher Sam McGlothlin then threw a strikeout to end the inning.

Both Narrows and PM stepped up defensively in the seventh to prevent any more runs.

Proud of his team’s fight toward the end of the game, PM head coach Bryan Loy said, “Our guys battled back. That’s what we expect out of them.”

The Green Wave racked up 12 hits, while PM had eight. Mc-Glothlin led Narrows with four hits and five RBIs, while Tucker Bryan, Cooper Helvey and Carson Crigger each had two hits.

Pruett paced PM with two hits, while six different Blues each had one hit.

Giving Narrows credit, Loy said, “They hit the ball. They put it in play.”

“It’s tough to beat a team three times,” added Loy. “They played well, but I thought we hit them well, too.”

The Blues used five different pitchers, while Narrows used three. PM committed three errors, while Narrows had two.

Giles 9, PM 0

It isn’t often that one thinks about what might have been in a shutout loss, but there were certainly a couple of “what if” moments in PM’s 9-0 loss to Giles in the Region 1C quarterfinals on Thursday in Buena Vista.

For example, what if the Blues hadn’t had two early runners erased on the base paths?

After holding the Spartans (7-4-1), the fourth seed from the Mountain Empire District, scoreless in the top of the first inning, the Blues opened the bottom of the frame with a leadoff walk from Braedyn Houck. But after a fly out, he was tagged out on an early steal attempt to end any possibilities of a threat.

In the bottom of the second, Wade led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout. He was picked off there, however, and that threat went by the wayside as well.

Between those two baserunning miscues, Giles plated three runs, on four hits and a pair of wild pitches, to take a 3-0 advantage. The Spartans added another run in the fourth, taking advantage of three PM errors.

Then came the other “what if” moment: what if Wade’s two swings had not been called foul balls?

Coleman led off the home half of the fourth with a single to left field, and one out later Peyton Ramsey drew a walk to give the Blues two base runners for the first time in the game. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third, and Wade then laced a hard ground ball that appeared to hug the third-base line into the left field corner. However, that swing was ruled a foul ball, sending the two runners that crossed the plate back to their respective bases.

Wade swung through the next pitch for strike three, but the ball rolled to the backstop. Instead of a run scoring and Wade safe at first, that swing was also ruled foul. Wade popped up to shortstop on the next pitch, and the Blues never threatened again.

Giles pitcher Brogan Pennington retired the next seven batters, and the Spartans exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth to put the game away.

Reviewing the game, Loy said, “I thought Giles hit the ball well and made some good defensive plays. Unfortunately, we struggled getting the bats going and finding a timely hit. I thought we hit some balls hard and they happened to be right at someone but that’s baseball. Some days you have bad days and unfortunately it just didn’t go our way.”

Pennington went the distance on the mound for the Spartans, striking out five while allowing five hits and walking three.

Wade took the loss on the mound for the Blues. He allowed four runs, three of them earned, in five innings of work while striking out four and surrendering seven hits. Ramsey pitched the final two innings for PM, striking out two and allowing four this, one walk and five earned runs.

At the plate, Giles pounded out 11 hits, with Christian Ratcliffe, Josiah Schlueter, Nathan Dudding and Braxton Clark each collecting two. Miles Eppling recorded two RBI for the Spartans.

PM had five hits. Recording one hit each were Coleman, Pruett, Wade, Conley and Jordan Brockenbrough.

Looking back on the season, Loy said, “Even though the season didn’t end how we would have wanted it to, I think we showed a lot of growth and improved throughout the year. Winning the district was a goal and something this team accomplished and should be proud of.”

The Blues, who had 10 all-district players this year, ended the season with the same number of overall wins as last year, when they went 13-9 overall and 8-4 in the district to finish second to Narrows. Last season ended with a 13-1 loss to Galax in the Region 1C quarterfinals.

Last Friday, PM graduated two seniors, Coleman and Pruett. Coleman was a center fielder, while Pruett was the team’s catcher.

“We will miss both Tanner and Aaron,” said Loy, concluding his seventh year as the Blues’ head coach. “They have both been major contributors to our program. It has been a pleasure to coach them and see them grow on and off the field. While they won’t be playing with us next year, they will always have a home within our program. We wish them both all the best.”