Monarchs Blue squared off against Black Swamp on Tuesday and witnessed a stellar performance from pitcher Dan Parson as he recorded 18 of the game’s 21 outs via strikeout. Parson was a little unlucky in the first as a pair of groundball singles, which just squeezed through the gaps, turned into two earned runs and an early deficit for the Monarchs- despite Parson’s 3 K inning. After the first inning, Parson never looked back. He proceeded to put up zero’s the rest of the way out while recording two or three strikeouts in every inning. One by one Parson sent the opposing batters back to the dugout en route to a superb, Complete Game performance.

After falling behind in the first, the Monarchs struck back in ‘small ball’ style as Michael Dushane singled, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Tad Margolies then recorded an RBI ground out to cut the deficit to one. The Monarchs struggled after that to hit with runners in scoring position. Over the next four innings the Monarchs threatened to score, including having the bases loaded in the fifth.

They were unable to bring the runs home though until the sixth, when the Monarchs manufactured four in the inning. After a Tyler Vance single, Kelly Barnes bunted to move the runner into scoring position. The catcher sailed the throw into foul territory allowing Vance to score from first, and Barnes to move all the way to third. Nasri Hajjar knocked in Barnes with an RBI single. Hajjar proceeded to steal second, and moved to third on Dushane’s Sac Fly. Margolies then walked on a wild pitch, and Hajjar came home to give the Monarchs a 4-2 lead, but weren’t finished. Ben Hammer had a broken bat single moving Margolies to third, and Josh White brought him home with another RBI single.

The three run lead was more than enough for Parson to close out the game with another three strikeout inning, and a 5-2 victory.

Monarchs Blue’s next game will be on Thursday against All American.

A little ‘small ball’ made a big difference in Sunday’s game for the Monarchs Gold against Northern Ohio. Ryan Mouch had the bases loaded for him with one out in the bottom of the 6th with the score deadlocked at three a piece. After battling the pitcher to a full count, Mouch and the base-runners executed a perfect squeeze play, bunting the ball down the first base line, and enabling the runner at third to score while Mouch beat out the throw to first. This proved to be all the breathing room needed for the pitching staff to shut the door on a 4-3 victory.

All the scoring happened in the first as Jake Cappelletty and Brian Bilius had RBI singles, and Drew Kuns scored from third when the catcher made an errant pick-off throw to second that sailed into the outfield. The pitching for the Monarchs started off a bit rocky for the first two innings giving up two runs in the first, and another in the second. The staff bounced back though and combined to end the game with five shutout innings. Defensive play of the game goes to Casey Winckowski in the top of the third when he gunned down the Northern Ohio  base-runner at home plate preserving a 3-3 tie and recording the Outfield Assist.