Versatile players are of the utmost value to a baseball team.

Tamaqua's Russell Blaker showed off all of his tools during a bitter and windy Schuylkill League battle against Jim Thorpe on Friday.Not only did Blaker excel on the mound, but he also delivered at the plate during the Blue Raiders' 8-1 victory over the Olympians."He did a great job," Tamaqua head coach Jeff Reading said. "He mixed his pitches well and threw them for strikes. He kept them off balance, and he was able to get a lot of ground balls. We were able to get behind him and make the plays. It was a good day for him. He threw a great game and much credit to him; he did the job on the mound and helped himself at the plate."Blaker tossed six innings, scattered five hits, yielded one run, and walked just two. He helped his own cause at the plate, as the Tamaqua senior smacked a single, double, and drove in a trio of runs."I was pleased with the offense because we struggled the other day with only two hits, against who I think might be the best pitcher in the league (Bobby Grigas)," Reading said. "We had opportunities; we were focused at the plate. There was situational hitting and we looked to move guys. The ball found some space for us and we were able to score some runs and be successful."Casey Rother and Matt Minchoff supplied two initial runs in the bottom of the first, which seemed to help Blaker lock in for the remainder of the game."That's key, being able to come in here on an ugly day and put some runs on the board," Reading said. "We had a game the other day that wasn't in our favor. There are some things you can't control and weather is one of them. Everybody has to deal with is, and I told them that they had to focus; it's mind over matter."The fourth inning featured most of the fireworks.Blaker gave up his first hit during the top of the frame, as Jake Burkhart cut the JT deficit to 3-1. The Olympians had runners on and were threatening, but Jordan McElmoyle lined into an untimely and rather unconventional 3-6 double play to end the threat. The double play was the second that Tamaqua turned within the first four innings."That was kind of one of those bad luck double plays," Jim Thorpe head coach Derick Reis said. "Our guy on second had a great secondary lead. That's tough, but that's just the way the ballgame goes sometimes."The Raiders pulled away in the bottom of the inning with four more runs. The offense combined for three walks and three singles. Owen Bates drove in a pair of runs, and Zach Coleman and Blaker each had an RBI during the sequence."I said it's the same situation today as the other day," Reading told his team before the contest. "We have a good Jim Thorpe team coming in who just had a nice win over Blue Mountain. We have to refocus and play our game. We didn't know what we were going to see, but I told them to look for good pitches to hit."Aside from the fourth inning, the Olympians had a few other opportunities to change the course of the game. Unfortunately, a few mishaps in the field didn't help their cause."We know that we're close," Reis said. "Our win on Wednesday showed that we are capable of playing with the upper echelon teams of this division, and we believe that. In my opinion, the scoreboard doesn't reflect what it could have been today."COLLECTIVE EFFORT … Every Raider in the starting lineup reached base during the Schuylkill League win.OLYMPIAN STANDOUTS … A pair of Olympians reached base twice despite the loss. David Marino drew a walk and doubled, and James O'Toole singled and walked.Jim Thorpe 000 100 0 - 1 4 2Tamaqua 201 401 x - 8 11 0Fayocavitz, Baird (4), Day (6) and Joyce; Blaker, Zuber (7) and Rother. W - Blaker. L - Fayocavitz.