Hitting spurts lead Pam Pack past Conley

Published 11:54 pm Thursday, June 22, 2017

It had been three years since Thomas Edwards last played in a baseball game. He said he was shaking a bit when he stepped up to bat in the bottom of the third inning in Washington’s summer-league game against Conley.

“I just wanted to hit the ball and get on base,” he said.

Well, he didn’t hit the ball, but he did draw a walk. Wilson Peed led off the frame by being hit by a pitch, so Edwards’ walk put two on with no outs. They moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Carson Asby belted a base hit through the left side to plate Peed, breaking a 1-1 tie in the process.

Edwards ended up coming in to score on a throwing error by Conley’s catcher. The run stood up as the game winner in a 7-2 win for the Pam Pack.

“I was excited for him. I know he was excited,” coach Rick Anderson said. “Thomas has played baseball all his life. These last three years, he’s kind of been away from it, but he decided to come back out here with these guys. We’re excited he’s out here. I think he had fun tonight.”

He was also the second of four Washington players to come across in the inning. Bunching together hits in multiple points of the game turned out one of the Pam Pack’s best offensive showings of the summer, giving the team its fourth win in its first five games.

“We decided tonight to come out and swing the bat and be more aggressive,” Anderson said. “Our game plan from the beginning was to be more aggressive at the plate and to try to square some balls up. In the last couple of ballgames, we’ve been very tentative at the plate. Tonight, I told them I wanted them going up there, being aggressive and going after the pitchers.”

Starting pitcher Tyler Harrell gave up a leadoff single that turned into the game’s first run. He collected three-straight outs to minimize the damage. That was all for his outing, though, as a nagging shoulder injury began to bother him.

Frederick Holscher took over from there. He rolled through four scoreless frames before handing the ball over to Drew Ferguson. He gave up a run in the sixth, but was able to ride out the Pam Pack’s long-standing lead to secure the win.

“We count on Fred,” Anderson said. “He’s a senior and we’re going to expect him to do big things for us in the springtime. Seeing him come out and do just what he did is what we expect him to do.”

Conley cut the lead to 5-2 on an RBI single to centerfield, but Washington came back and added two more in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Holscher and Harrell belted consecutive doubles and Ferguson notched a single.