By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
It wasn’t the prettiest, nor dynamic or dazzling but Washington’s performance was sturdy and strong enough to get a win in its home opener on Monday.
Led by the pitching effort of David Tyson, the Pam Pack was able to suppress Jacksonville and pull out a 5-3 victory at Futrell Field.
The Washington senior pitched all seven innings for the Pack, allowing only three runs while striking out six and issuing only one base on balls.
Tyson got the leadoff hitter out in every inning except the fourth, and with a little bit of run support he was able to up Washington’s record to 2-1.
While Tyson did not create problems for himself, he did for everybody in the Cardinals’ lineup except Brandon Ulmer. Ulmer was perfect in the batter’s box and was resonsible for four of Jacksonville’s seven hits.
As a team, the Pam Pack only had four hits, but it took advantage of freshman pitcher Corey Case’s struggles to command his off-speed pitches and a shaky Jacksonville defense that committed five errors.
It was a Washington error in the first that helped Jacksonville (1-2) go up 1-0 as Klay Davis crossed home on a Cole Hartley error.
The Pack wasted no time answering back. Jake Duke led off with a double, reached third on a Gator Moore sacrifice fly and eventually scored on a Case wild pitch.
Duke accounted for three of the Pam Pack’s five runs as he was 1-4 with and RBI and two runs scored.
Washington extended its lead to 3-1 in the second. Weasel Moore drilled a double to score Hartley, who had reached base on a walk, to take a 2-1 advantage.
Moore would advance to third on a wild pitch, then score on a Duke grounder to short, which was misplayed by Jacksonville.
The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the third when Ulmer reached base on a single, stole second, reached third on past ball and scored on a Pam Pack error.
Errors would doom the Cardinals again in bottom half of the inning. Tyson led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and then stole third base. The swiped bag by Tyson proved to be a big play, as it set him up to score on a wild throw to first by third baseman Jacob Marro on a Justin Meekins’ grounder to extend Washington’s lead to 4-2.
Jacksonville made one last run at the Pack in top of the fourth as Brandon Mendiola crushed a double to drive in John Edwards making it a 4-3 ball game. However, the Cardinals failed to capitalize on the momentum and only scored one run.
Washington tacked its final run in the bottom of the fourt when Duke scored from second on an Austin Thompson single.
The Pam Pack will be back in action today when it hosts Farmville Central.
Jacksonville 101 110 0 — 3 7 5
Washington 121 100 X — 5 4 3
WP: David Tyson; LP: Corey Case
Hitting: J — Brandon Ulmer 4-4 (R), Tyler Hollie 1-3, John Edwards (1-3 (R), Brandon Mendiola 1-3 (RBI); W — Jake Duke 1-4 (2B, RBI, 2 R), Austin Thompson 1-3 (RBI), David Tyson 1-2 (R), Weasel Moore 1-3 (RBI)