Tigers fall in FAC play at home to Jackson; bounce back with road win at North Adams 

The McClain TIgers allowed just one earned run and doubled up on the hit total against the Jackson Ironmen at home Wednesday evening, but the Tigers were only able to get one run across the plate for a 2-1 loss at Tom Hixon Field at Mitchell Park. 

Jackson’s two runs were scored in the top of the second and third innings for a 2-0 lead. The first run by the Ironmen was scored off a passed ball allowing Eli Ray to make it a 1-0 lead with two outs. 

JHS took a 2-0 lead when Bodhi Wolford hit a ground out to the shortstop on a 2-0 count to plate Cooper Marcum. 

McClain made it a one-run game when Carson Chandler scored a run on a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth inning. 

The Tigers had an opportunity to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh as Connor Chandler forced a one-out walk on seven pitches, followed with a single by Hunter Peabody with a two-strike count. The game ended as the Tigers hit into a double play as the first out of the double play was hit to the right fielder, followed with the throw back to second base for the final out of the game to complete the double play. 

The game had two classic pitching outings from Jackson and McClain with the Ironmen having two pitchers for the game. The win went to Waylon Delong, who pitched five innings, allowing no earned runs on five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. 

Ryan Seimetz pitched two innings for JHS, allowing one earned run on three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. 

Easton Ary pitched for the Tigers and in his performance on the mound Ary allowed one earned run on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in seven innings. Ary threw 105 pitches, 53 for strikes. 

At the plate for MHS, Carson Chandler was 2-for-2 with one run and one walk. Connor Chandler finished 1-for-3 with a walk. Hunter Peabody was 1-for-4, and Kolton Lamb was also 1-for-4. 

Ary finished 1-for-3 with a double, while teammate Eli Douglas finished 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch. McClain’s Benny Vangundy went 1-for-3.

Having hits for Jackson were Marcum, Seimetz, Wolford (one RBI), and Collin Landrum.

BOX SCORE
JHS    011 000 0 — 2 4 1 
MHS    000 001 0 — 1 8 0 

Following the tough luck loss on Wednesday, the McClain Tigers were back on the diamond Friday evening as they traveled to Adams County to the host North Adams Green Devils, 6-2 in non-conference play. 

Each team scored two runs in the first inning as for MHS it was Hunter Peabody and Carson Chandler scoring runs off a line drive hit to left field by Easton Ary in the top of the first. 

The Green Devils responded with Colin Tolle and Maverick Winkler scoring runs off a hit to centerfield by Trace Evans, tying the score at 2-2. 

In the top of the sixth inning it was Ary scoring a run on a balk for a 3-2 lead for McClain. 

The top of the seventh saw Kolton Lamb hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Joriah Keegan from third base. The lead went from 4-2 to 6-2 when Carson Chandler singled to right field to plate both Peabody and Connor Chandler. 

The game saw each team have nine hits with the Tigers committing two errors. 

Three Tigers had two hits each and they were Peabody (2-for-4, a steal, two runs), Carson Chandler (2-for-3, one run, one walk, two RBI), and Ary (2-for-4, a double, one run, two RBI).

Connor Chandler finished the win at 1-for-3 with a run, a steal, and one walk. Matthew Cummins finished 1-for-4, and Benny Vangundy was 1-for-2. Lamb collected an RBI with the SAC fly, while teammate Eli Douglas walked once and had a steal. 

Connor Chandler pitched five innings allowing two earned runs on seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts for the win. He threw 72 pitches. 

Carson Chandler pitched two innings for the save where he allowed no earned runs on two hits and a walk with one strikeout. Carson Chandler threw 30 pitches. 

Following the past two games, the Tigers are now 10-6 overall and 2-4 in the FAC. 

Next is a game now scheduled for home on Monday, April 27 at Tom Hixon Field against the Hillsboro Indians in FAC play at 5 p.m. 

BOX SCORE
MHS      200 001 3 — 6 9 2 
NAHS    200 000 0 — 2 9 0