In some sports, you can take into account an opposing team’s record when contemplating whether that team is beatable; whether your team stands a good chance of winning, or not.
Baseball is different in many aspects.
Not the least of which is, a team’s record really doesn’t matter.
The Washington Blue Lions showed that was true when they hosted the McClain Tigers in a Frontier Athletic Conference match-up on a warm, sunny Monday after Easter (also Earth Day).
The Tigers took an early 2-0 lead, but the Blue Lions rallied and held on at the end to post a 6-5 victory.
Washington is now 3-12 overall, 1-7 in the FAC.
The Blue Lions had taken a 10-0 loss to the Tigers at Mitchell Park in Greenfield on April 10.
Jarred Hall got the victory on the mound for Washington. He pitched seven innings with 10 hits and five runs (all earned). He struck out two, walked one and hit one batter.
Sam Faulconer started for the Tigers. He pitched three innings with three hits and three earned runs. He struck out three and walked five.
Nate Terrell pitched one inning, taking the loss. He allowed two hits and three runs (all earned) with no strikeouts and two walks.
John Salyers pitched two innings, allowing just one hit.
Offensively for Washington, Tyler Rood had two hits and drove in one run.
George Reno had one hit, drove in one and scored twice.
Karson Runk had one hit and scored twice; Eli Shaw had a double, drove in one and scored one.
Bailey Roberts walked twice and scored once.
For the Tigers, Colton Mossbarger was 3 for 4 with one run scored.
Salyers had two hits, including a triple, with one rbi and two runs scored.
Eric Anderson had one hit and scored one run; Cody Pollock had one hit; Evan Hutchinson had one hit and scored one run; Trevor Dalton hit a double and Garrison Banks had a double and drove in three runs.
“McClain is a very good team,” Washington head coach Mark Schwartz said. “They’re one of the top teams in our league.
“I’ve told our guys since day one, ‘if we hit and play defense, we can compete with anybody,’” Schwartz said. “We’re hopefully starting to get on a little bit of a roll here, just in time for the tournament.
“This was a big team win,” Schwartz said. “Jarred Hall pitched a heck of a game, our defense backed him up and we had timely hitting. I’m very proud of these guys. They’re not hanging their heads based on our record. We’re going to keep fighting to the end.”
“We were just not ready to play,” McClain head coach Richie Bunner said. “I’m not taking any credit away from (Washington), they deserve the win. We came out flat and not ready to play and it showed. You can’t show up in this league not ready to play, that’s the bottom line.”
The loss is the second in the conference for McClain, now 8-5 overall, 4-2 in the FAC.
McClain scored twice in the first inning, with singles by Anderson and Salyers, a walk to Pollock and a double by Banks.
Washington tied the game in the bottom of the third.
It started with a one-out walk to Reno, who soon stole second and advanced to third on a single by Runk.
Reno scored on a throwing error by the Tigers and Runk scored on a hit by Rood.
Washington took the lead with three runs in the fourth.
Shaw and Tyler Tackage walked to begin the inning.
Cortez O’Flaherty bunted the runners over and Reno bunted for an infield hit that scored Shaw.
Reno stole second and Tackage was thrown out attempting to steal home.
Runk walked and Reno scored on a wild pitch with Runk advancing to second.
Hall singled to center, scoring Runk to make it a 5-2 ball game in favor of the Blue Lions.
The Tigers rallied for two in the top of the fifth.
Mossbarger led off with a single and scored on a triple by Salyers.
One out later, Banks had a sacrifice fly to center to score Salyers and make it 5-4. The next batter grounded out to end the inning.
Washington scored a key insurance run, what proved to be the winning run, in the bottom of the sixth.
Bailey Roberts walked and went to second on a wild pitch.
Shaw hit a double to center to score Roberts.
Tackage reached on an error and O’Flaherty sacrificed successfully again, but a ground out ended the inning.
In the sixth for the Tigers, Hutchinson led off with a single to left field.
Dalton doubled to left, putting runners at second and third with no outs.
Mason Ratcliff hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Hutchinson. Dalton was caught in a rundown and tagged out.
Anderson grounded into a force at second and was caught stealing to end the rally.
Washington went out in order in the bottom of the sixth.
In the seventh, Mossbarger led off with a single.
The next two batters were retired before Banks was hit by a pitch. Mossbarger was thrown out attempting to steal third to end the game.
Washington is home against Miami Trace Wednesday and McClain will host Hillsboro that day.
RHE
Mc 200 021 0 — 5 10 4
W 002 310 x — 6 6 1
Offensively for Washington: George Reno, 1-3, 2 runs, 1 rbi, 1 bb, 2 sb; Karson Runk, 1-3, 2 runs, 1 bb; Jarred Hall, 1-4, 1 rbi, roe; Tyler Rood, 2-4, 1 rbi; Bailey Roberts, 0-1, 1 run, 2 bb; Ryan Schwartz, 0-3; Eli Shaw, 1-1, 1 run, 1 rbi, 2 bb, 2b, sb; Tyler Tackage, 0-2, 1 bb, roe; Cortez O’Flaherty, 0-1, 2 sac. LOB: 7.
Offensively for McClain: Eric Anderson, 1-4, 1 run, fc; Colton Mossbarger, 3-4, 1 run, 4 sb; John Salyers, 2-4, 2 runs, 1 rbi, 3b; Cody Pollock, 1-3, 1 bb, sb; Garrison Banks, 1-2, 3 rbi, 2b, hbp, sac fly; Austin Booth, 0-3; Evan Hutchinson, 1-3, 1 run; Trevor Dalton, 1-3, 2b; Sam Faulconer, 0-2, roe; Keith Bennett, 0-0; Mason Ratcliff, 0-1, 1 rbi, fc. LOB: 6
