Beavers bit by late rally, continue search for first win of the season

AMERICAN FALLS — Two outs away from securing their first win of the season, the American Falls Beavers had to relieve starter Xavier Parrish, who reached his pitch limit for the game.

In relief, three Beaver pitchers combined to surrender eight runs before recording the final two outs of an eventual 9-3 loss to the Filer Wildcats (6-0) in game one of a doubleheader. Things got worse for American Falls (0-9, 0-0), playing in its sixth game this week, as they fell 27-0 in the second half of the double-dip.

Parrish was dominant out of the gate, striking out four in the first three innings, before allowing Filer’s first hit of the afternoon — a lead-off single in the top of the fourth.

He pitched around the lead-off knock, then worked through two errors, including a throwing error of his own, in the fifth to carry a 2-0 lead into the sixth. But the extra throws may have cost Parrish and the Beavers in the long run.

Even after allowing a run to score in the sixth — from second on a wild pitch — Parrish and the Beavers, who came in to the afternoon having lost each of their first seven games by double-digits, went into the bottom of sixth up 2-1.

Parrish scored on a wild pitch in the bottom half to answer the run. He and his battery-mate, catcher Waylon Hensley, scored all three American Falls runs.

Hensley finished the game with two hits, a pair of triples, and two runs scored. Parrish went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored.

The right-handed starter went back to the bump to start the seventh, but had thrown 87 pitches through the first six.

IHSAA rules state that pitchers are allowed to throw up to 110 pitches in a game. But those regulations are a bit tighter early in the season. Through the first 30 days of the baseball season, pitchers are capped at 88 pitches — though they are allowed to finish the current at-bat after reaching the 88-throw threshold.

Parrish struck out the only batter he faced in the seventh, to finish with eight whiffs and zero walks in 6-1/3 innings of two-hit, one-run ball.

Filer piled up two hits, five walks and eight runs after the starter departed.

Things got tougher from there for the home nine, with the Wildcats scoring 10 times in the first inning of game two. Filer added six in the second, three in the third and fourth, and five in the fifth en route to a 27-0 victory.

The Beaver offense was held silent in round two Saturday, with a trio of Filer hurlers working a combined no-hitter while striking out nine.

American Falls will get a bit of a break with its next game scheduled for March 31 against Wendell (3-3).